It’s safe to say that for most teenagers, memes are a familiar form of pop culture. It’s humor mixed with self expression and sometimes, utter stupidity. But the memes are loved and cherished, exactly as they should be.

I cannot count how many nights I’ve spent in complete silence, only to be interrupted by the occasional video, wrapped like a warm burrito with my blanket as the tortilla. The blue light of my screen is what keeps me awake every time. There gets to a point when it’s too late to even try to go to bed; those are the nights when I pass out from exhaustion and two hours of sleep becomes a blessing. 

My midnight companion, whatever memes just so happen to be relevant at the time—it’s absolutely a sin to admire dead memes, so wait until no one is watching and then remember in fondness. At the moment “AirPods”, “Big Chungus”, and “TikTok” are the

most popular memes. In about two days they will not be even slightly popular anymore. The speed of the internet is absolutely incredible.

This was probably apparent, but I love memes. I fell into the realm of the internet around sixth grade, and I’ve never gone back. To this day my camera roll is evenly split between pictures of my loved ones and memes, some I still remember the meanings of and some are ancient history. I’ve never made memes but I wish I was gifted enough to.

Time for an unpopular opinion! I have to preface this with a bit about myself, I have quite a dark sense of humor. Therefore, memes that revolve around the central themes of death, destruction, and tragedy are usually hilarious to me—I’m certainly not implying that they should be funny to anyone else, even though they definitely are. Does this make me a bad person? Quite possibly, but I believe it’s healthy to laugh at tragedy. Otherwise the world would be even more depressing than it already is.

Memes really bring a community of people together, in one of the strangest formats possible. Whether you’re a frequent user or an occasional passerby, memes are a hidden art form. The line between the dark and the light memes is often a thin one, and you may not even notice that you’ve just laughed at a more devilish meme. As opposed to happening upon the darker memes by mistake, give them a try, you never know, maybe you’ll find yourself laughing at tragedy too.

Have a similar or contrasting view? Let us know!  Leave a comment or email the opinion writer at 20.wallen.chiara@omahamarian.org