What Do Teens Mean When They Talk About Winning 'Aura Points?'
Fact checked by Karen CilliFact checked by Karen CilliIf you've heard your teen talk about winning or losing "aura points" lately, you might have some questions. And unfortunately for the rest of us, asking what aura means might make you lose a few points yourself.Luckily, we won’t judge. So if you’ve heard your kids say “-100 aura” when you show off your dance moves or just want to keep up to date on what Gen Z and Gen Alpha are talking about, keep reading to find out what aura means, where it originated, and how it's used on social media.
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So...What Is Aura, Exactly?With aura, you’re just supposed to know it when you see it. However, for confused parents, that isn’t all that helpful. So if you’re not tuned in to this Gen Z and Gen Alpha je ne sais quoi, we can help explain!While aura is a real, dictionary-defined word that refers to the type of atmosphere, energy, or vibe someone exudes, as always, teens have taken to social media to put their own spin on things.Aura describes someone’s cool or “it” factor; it’s like a Gen Alpha version of swagger. If someone “has aura,” it means they are so cool that when they walk into a room, you feel their presence. Someone with aura is someone who is confident, cool, collected, and suave, and someone without aura is someone who is insecure, cringey, or generally uncool.How Are Aura Points Won or Lost?The teens and tweens of TikTok have created a system to quantify how their actions merit literal cool points by awarding and docking each other “aura points.”The system almost mimics the way experience points work in a video game. If you spill coffee on your shirt or trip in front of your whole class, you might lose -100 aura points. But if you ask someone out and they say yes, or you get a good haircut, you can easily earn +100 aura points back.And while the phrase aura points usually has a positive or negative number before it, there is no total to reach or any math to be done. Gaining +100 aura points isn’t four times better than earning +25 aura points, as these numbers don’t hold actual weight.The hypothetical number of aura points you have at any given moment doesn’t actually matter and usually isn’t even counted. It is just a silly way to compliment or make fun of someone's actions.Origin of Aura and Aura PointsThe term aura does not have one clear point of origin, but has always been rooted in social media. It seems to have spurred to life in sports culture, mainly basketball. On social media, particularly X, many sports fans have long used the term aura to describe their favorite players' impressive and effortless presence on and off the court.A player with aura is a player that makes big plays and whose presence on the court immediately gets fans excited. Players with no aura are lackluster or just generally can't seem to find that mojo that distinguishes an average or even good player from a fan favorite great. Aura points seems to be an adaptation of this concept that developed on other social media sites like TikTok through various trends.This term has since swept the platform, inspiring thousands of videos where people share stories of times they’ve gained or lost points.Aura Trends on Social MediaSocial media, especially TikTok, has become a petri dish for the popularization of teen trends based around slang in the last few years. If your teen or tween has access to social media, these are some of the trends they may be seeing or participating in.How many aura points did I lose?This question has been posed in thousands of TikToks across the app. People have flocked to the social media platform to share times they have embarrassed themselves, been rejected, or generally done something uncool—aka something that gives them negative aura points.In one TikTok, a boy gets his Yeezy slide stuck around his ankle at the beach and is unable to get it off, even with the aggressive help of others. The video includes text overlay reading: “How many aura points did my brother lose when tripped and got his slides stuck in his leg?”Some commented that just watching the video made them lose some of their own aura points, while others took the opportunity to hype up the boy in the video. “+100 cuz it’s funny lol,” wrote one commenter.While many users turn to this TikTok format as a lighthearted way to poke fun at themselves and their friends, an extremely popular subsection of this format tells darker stories.In these videos, users, usually teen girls, will use the format to ask how many aura points they lost when they were led on, lied to, or mistreated in relationships.This trend has amassed millions of likes and thousands of videos, and serves as a reminder of the volatility of teen relationships as well as the importance of talking about dating with teenagers.AuramaxxingSimilar to the trend of smellmaxxing, teens are taking to TikTok to increase their auras with the new term auramaxxing. The term means just what it sounds like, maximizing your aura.This trend is usually followed by teen or tween boys who make personal and lifestyle changes in order to inspire self improvement. According to TikTok, some of the things you can do to auramaxx include:Developing a unique fashion styleGoing to the gym and working out Smelling goodTalking less and listening moreDefine auraPerhaps the most simple of the many social media trends relating to aura, this one might also be the most popular. Whether it's a tweet before an image, text placed over a video, or a comment, all over social media people are using the phrase "define aura."This expression essentially means that if you looked up aura in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of what or whoever the poster has determined has aura. @mother.beyonce Beyoncé is the definition of aura#BEYONCE #Beyoncé #giselle #bey #cowboycarter #beyonce #beyhive ♬ original sound - user49236509710 While you're probably not Beyonce, now that you understand the what aura means in teen slang and on social media, you might be able to gain a few aura points with your kids.Although, if we're being honest, they'll probably call even your perfect usage of the term embarrassing. For more Parents news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter! Read the original article on Parents.
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