A recent study has shown that while the world was stressing over toilet roll, changing up their daily walking route for a bit of excitement and panic-making a Zoom pub quiz round last minute, one thing was keeping spirits high: memes.
Scientists at Penn State have shown that “meme-viewing” led to positive emotions and higher levels of reported humour during a pretty bleak time.
Defined as “an image, video or piece of text typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users”, the origin of the meme is actually rooted in science.
It stems from the combination of the Greek word ‘mimeme’ – something imitated – with the English word ‘gene’ by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins back in 1976 to convey the idea of cultural transmission. Since then, ‘meme’ has come to represent the latest trends in humour.
The last two years have had their fair share of stress; with (at times) shockingly high daily death and infection rates, the loneliness of isolation and getting accustomed to a new way of living.
And in this time of loneliness, the world was having the same collective experience, allowing for COVID-19 related memes to circulate and make many feel less alone. In fact, while memes in general showed a positive response in mood overall, COVID-19 related memes also helped to alleviate COVID-19 stress and anxiety in many.
From being “like a whippet” when breaking the one hour exercise curfew to calling for “another lockdown” in true Gemma Collins style. Now that working from home is over, memes have brought comfort and joy to many in an otherwise taxing time.
