Red pills, purple hearts, blue circles - emojis have become a completely different language for younger people.

So how can parents make sense of it all?

Editor in chief of Emojipedia Keith Broni told Newstalk Breakfast that not every emoji has a secret insidious meaning - but that some symbols in particular have become staples of online conversations.

"Emojis can be repurposed to reference different concepts than perhaps you'd expect," he said.

"And of course, the TV show Adolescence has really kind of made a lot of parents across the world aware that this may be the case."

However, Mr Broni said that not everything seen in Adolescence is accurate to real world online-speak.

"Interpretations of these emojis are transient, some can crystallise into new meanings, like the skull being predominantly used for laughter to reference the slang, 'I'm dying laughing'," he said.

"But that may not be the case in ten years."

According to Mr Broni, emojis are not necessarily an entirely new language, but can hint at the type of content children are accessing online.

You can listen back to the full interview here:

Main image: A woman writes a message using emojis on her smartphone. 11 April 2017. Photo: Arno Burgi/Alamy Live News