Of course, we all know that memes aren’t technically an official love language. There are five of those, by the way, in case you’ve forgotten. And they go beyond romantic relationships too. We can use them to show love to anyone in our lives.
Words of affirmation is about showing love through compliments and encouragement. Quality time means giving someone your full attention and doing things together. Gifts are about thoughtful gestures that show appreciation.
Acts of service means helping out and making someone’s life a little easier. And physical touch covers things like hugs, holding hands and all the other ways we connect physically.
But think about it. When you send a funny picture to your friend or significant other with the caption “us,” you’re doing more than just sharing a laugh. You’re telling them that something reminded you of them, that you understand them well enough to know they’d find it funny.
That kind of thoughtfulness is really no different from any other way we show the people in our lives that we care. So honestly, sending memes really is its own kind of love language at this point.
Relationships counsellor Louise Tyler explained to Stylist how memes can actually serve as digital hugs for our closest people when they need it most. She described sending memes as what therapists call “warm fuzzies.”
These are small gestures between people that communicate something along the lines of “I see you and you matter to me.” Tyler pointed out that in the past, these gestures might have been compliments or small thoughtful gifts.
But today, sending a meme can have the exact same effect. According to her, it all comes down to small moments of real human connection that come with a boost of oxytocin, which is the bonding hormone sometimes called the “love hormone.”
Memes also play a surprisingly big role when you’re getting to know someone new. According to a Hinge survey of 2,000 users, sending memes is actually the number one preferred way to flirt both before and after a first date.
On top of that, 73 percent of people on the app use memes to figure out if they share a sense of humor with a potential match. And 60 percent said they want to get a feel for someone’s meme humor before even agreeing to meet up in person.
So if that doesn’t prove how much memes matter in our relationships, what does? They can genuinely influence whether someone feels like a good match on a dating app or whether you even want to meet them in real life.
A well-timed, well-chosen meme can say a lot more about compatibility than a standard opening line ever could.
Theodora Blanchfield, AMFT, explains in an article for Verywell Mind that memes have fundamentally changed how we communicate. They can make it easier to express things that are typically hard to put into words.
Research shows that memes addressing difficult topics like mental health or loneliness give people a safer and even socially acceptable way to share some of the weight of those feelings.
Finding humor in tough situations can also take some of the power away from emotions that might otherwise feel too heavy or taboo to bring up.
