IRL = In Real Life. As opposed to online.
It’s actually a very common shorthand for a combo of words used often on platforms like Twitter and Reddit and texting too. You learned something new today!
I don’t do Twitter or Reddit and I don’t text. So maybe you learned something new today. There are a whole bunch of us old folks that don’t give a crap about your acronyms. Get it?
Common practice is to break out an acronym the first time it is used. IRL (In Real Life).
A few years ago I had a doctor throw a couple acronyms at me that in my job meant something entirely different. I got some laughs and funny looks when I told the story later at work.