There’s definitely no shortage of hilarious meme accounts on the internet, and for that, we’re thankful! And today, the meme page we’re happy to celebrate is Brainy Memes. This Facebook group has been around since October 2018 and has amassed an impressive 280k members since its creation.
With a small team of only one administrator, this group has managed to appeal to hundreds of thousands through one simple goal: “Make sad people smile with your memes.” Clearly, the community has had success, as 119 new members have joined in the last week. And the group relies on only a few rules: no hate speech or bullying; no promotions or spam; and respect everyone’s privacy.
While an apple a day keeps the doctor away, we’re convinced that a few memes a day might have the same effect (at least for your mental health). According to Statista, over half of the population under the age of 45 reports that they experience stress, and between 38 to 45% of those between the ages of 45 to 64 say they do too. We all know stress isn’t beneficial for our health, so we’ve got to find ways to manage and mitigate it.
Thankfully, internet memes, as silly as they may seem, can help to do the trick. One 2021 study found that during the pandemic, Covid related memes actually helped some individuals cope with their stress. “Viewing memes was also associated with higher levels of self-reported humor and increased positive feelings compared with non-meme content on social media,” Everyday Health reports.
As far as what’s so therapeutic about viewing silly little memes, Jessica Myrick, PhD, told Everyday Health, “I think it's just a way for us to be creative and to connect with other people by sharing our experience, and then knowing we're not alone by seeing ‘Okay, other people are struggling with this during the pandemic.’”
She also noted that sharing these photos can help us find a community of like-minded people. “One of the main purposes of experiencing positive emotions is to build social capital, to motivate us to want to connect to other people and to be in groups of people, so positive emotions are really important for building a community. That's how we connect with each other,” Myrick says.
Memes can also help us breach difficult topics in a more lighthearted way. It might be hard to start a conversation with a friend or family member about your mental health, but if you have a meme to break the ice, you might feel more comfortable after the two of you have shared a laugh. Everyday Health notes that memes can be a great coping mechanism, and they can make heavy conversations much easier to bear.
If you have a few favorite memes that you pass along to friends or family members often, you probably don’t need any explanation for why we love them so much. But if you would like to delve into why memes are so popular, lucky for us, Make Us Of already has. First, they note that memes are a cultural information exchange. We make them about holidays, songs that are trending, the weather we’re experiencing and more. They’re a great and easy way to bond with others who have the same experiences or who have similar beliefs.
As we’ve already mentioned, memes are also a great way to cope with stress or anxiety. They make it easier to discuss difficult topics, and they can be a reminder that we’re all experiencing the same things, even if we feel alone and isolated at times. On the other hand, memes can provide a different perspective on stressful situations, Make Use Of notes. If you’re caught up in only looking at the dark side of a certain topic or experience, a meme can help you view the situation with a fresher and funnier point of view.
