A media psychologist in the same piece argues that Tumblr shifted online sharing away from personal reflections and toward collections of images and phrases that work as cultural shorthand. It also turned the humble text post into an art form, where a stranger’s offhand remark gets screenshotted, shared and quoted by thousands of people who will never meet. If your feed runs on reaction images and inside jokes, you have Tumblr to thank, or perhaps to blame.
Nothing shows off the Tumblr hive mind better than Goncharov. In November 2022, users decided to collectively pretend that a 1973 Martin Scorsese mafia film existed. It did not. That did not stop the site from producing fake posters, fake academic papers and fake reactions until the movie that never was took over the dashboard for days. Fans wrote reviews and debated its themes as if everyone had caught it in theaters, and Know Your Meme tracks the full saga if you want the lore.
And the story is not over. In 2025, Tumblr shared data showing that half of its monthly active users and 60 percent of new sign ups were Gen Z, with many reportedly seeking a refuge from feeds crowded with influencers. Whether that counts as a full comeback or a cozy niche is up for debate, but the platform clearly still has devoted fans.
Which brings us back to the posts here. They come from a community devoted to the very best of Tumblr’s chaos, from jokes that make no sense to earnest rants about very specific things, and they show exactly why this old internet landmark keeps sneaking back into everyone’s feed. Consider them proof that a platform can lose its spotlight and still shape the way the whole internet talks.
#35 Rolling Up In Modified Roller Derby Gear With Wheels On My Elbows And Knees To Better Swerve On The Swiss Guard
#38 Operating Heavy Machinery Is An Odd Right Of Passage When You Think About It
