Humor in the 21st Century
In this day and age, humor is becoming less represented by funny literature or theatre and more represented by online jokes and memes. This is probably because of the rise in the use of technology and social media.
A meme is, according to the dictionary “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.” So what is it that makes memes so popular within social media users?
According to researchers at The University of Memphis, shorter memes tend to be a lot more popular on the internet. Some memes like Overly Attached Girlfriend, Good Luck Brian and The Success Kid are all famous memes, and researchers created a software to predict which memes are more likely to succeed and why. They found out shorter memes were 2.8 times more likely to be successful and memes with swear words were 1.77 less likely to be shared.
I, as a social media user and teenager, enjoy looking at memes from time to time. For me, a good meme should be relatable, well made, and of course, funny. Some of my favorite memes are the numerous Sponge Bob memes, reminding me of my childhood and making me laugh at the same time. Good memes should make people feel more than one emotion at one, reminding people of their past experiences.
I believe everyone should give memes a try as an entertainment, but it may not be for everyone, as they’re made for and by teenagers and young adults.
By: Anastasia Seitan, Scoala Mea Highschool, Bucharest, Romania.
Internet Memes
An internet meme is an activity, concept, catch phrase or a piece of media which spreads often as mimicry from person to person via internet.
They are popular on the internet among the younger population. “Original” memes are usually images what contains top-, and bottom text with font Impact in white letters with black boarder.
Memes are often used in conversations on the net. They can be used in mid-conversation to be funny, clever or annoying. (Usually the last one) If someone says something like “Age is just a number” you can send them this picture.
There are a countless amount of memes and new ones coming all the time. You will probably find even one meme to every possible situation. If you don’t find, go on and make one. You can get surprisingly popular on the net.
There are many apps to look for and share memes and other kinds of funny things. 9gag is one of the best apps to look and share memes. Other apps are Reddit, Tumblr and 4chan. I personally suggest to check out 9gag. The 9gag community is usually friendly but if you lie, are stupid or REPOST you will be doomed forever.
By: Aaro Yli-Äyhö FINLAND :)