Why We Can’t Stop Sending Memes to Each Other

I send a LOT of memes.

If we’re friends, there is a pretty good chance I have sent you a meme with no context, possibly after not speaking to you for three days. My best friend and I send each other “meme dumps” constantly.

For us, that is the conversation.

I’ve also built a pretty significant portion of my online presence around memes. I post them. I make them. I respond to people with them. I have folders full of screenshots and pictures saved specifically because I know eventually I will find the perfect opportunity to use them.

Which sounds a little ridiculous when you actually write it out like that, but memes are one of my favorite parts of internet culture because they do something people are constantly trying to figure out how to do online: connect with other people.

And its magical to see a blurry picture of a cat with six words slapped across it accomplishing that remarkably well.

Memes are basically their own language

A good meme can communicate an entire feeling or experience without needing much explanation.

You see one about sitting in your car for ten minutes before going into the grocery store and immediately send it to the friend who also has to mentally prepare themselves to enter Kroger. You see one about a weirdly specific work experience and send it to your former coworker because you both know exactly who it reminds you of.

Sometimes you’re laughing at the joke, and sometimes you’re laughing because you cannot believe that weird thing that happened to you was actually a universal experience.

That’s part of what makes memes work across such wide audiences. They take common experiences, frustrations, observations, current events, or just plain absurdity and turn them into something people can recognize almost instantly.

You don’t have to be a “content creator” to use memes

When people talk about using memes online, the conversation always goes straight to posting them as content.

Obviously, I HIGHLY support this behavior.

But some of my favorite uses of memes have absolutely nothing to do with trying to get impressions or engagement.

You ever have someone in the group chat drop a meme that speaks to a specific experience someone in your group had that you all already joke about? CLASSIC.

A personal favorite use case: in a comment when it says what you want to say better than an actual sentence would.

I’ve connected with people online because we kept ending up in each other’s comments making jokes. I’ve had friendships where sending each other memes becomes its own little way of checking in.

There’s an art to knowing when humor is appropriate and when exactly to drop that meme.

Where the hell do you find all these memes?

This is one of the questions I get the most…

The annoying answer is that you have to actually spend time looking for them.

Make your own

If you have an idea and already know which meme format you want, making one is incredibly easy.

Imgflip and Mematic both have tons of existing templates where you can add your own text. You can also Google the meme template you’re looking for, save the blank version, and edit it in Canva or whatever program you already use.

I do this pretty frequently when I have a very specific joke in my head and the internet has somehow failed to make it for me already.

Become a lurker

If you want to find good internet content, you need to actually spend some time on the internet.

Follow meme accounts, funny people, and others in similar areas as you. Eventually the algorithm figures out what makes you stop scrolling and starts handing you more of it.

Threads and Instagram are probably my biggest sources right now. I save things constantly, whether I plan to repost them, send them to somebody, or just keep them tucked away for the oddly specific situation when they become relevant.

When that situation arrives six months later?

Absolutely worth it.

Pay attention to things that weren’t intended to be memes

Some of the funniest reaction images and memes start as completely normal pictures, screenshots, signs, posts, or moments that happen to have enormous meme potential.

Take pictures. Take screenshots. Save weird things you come across.

You don’t always need an existing meme template. Sometimes you just need a picture of a cat sitting like it’s recently learned its mortgage application was denied.

There is an important caveat here, though.

If you’re turning something into a meme, think about where it came from before you post it. If it came from someone else’s public post, keep their username visible or try to credit the original poster.

If they didn’t share it publicly, don’t be the person who makes that decision for them. A funny screenshot is not worth putting somebody else’s private conversation or experience on blast.

Memes give us a really easy way to say “me too”

Which is ultimately why I love them so much.

Memes are funny, stupid and sometimes make absolutely no sense unless you’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time in a particular corner of the internet. Lord knows how long I have spent in comment sections trying to understand the joke.

But underneath all of that, they’re social.

Sending someone a meme can mean “this reminded me of you.” Posting one can mean “please tell me someone else experiences this.” Commenting with the perfect reaction image can turn into a whole conversation with someone you’ve never spoken to before.

Humans have always found ways to joke about shared experiences. The internet just gave us a seemingly endless supply of pictures to attach those jokes to.

And while sometimes connection looks like a long conversation about life, it can also look like sending your friend a picture of a raccoon holding a piece of bread at 11:47 p.m.

Like what you just read?

I write about hiring, content creation, internet culture, and whatever else I can’t stop thinking about that week.

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