Wholesomeness is all the rage now, didn't you know? The "Heck, this is wholesome" group on Facebook has more than 1.9 million members. If that's not a testament to how the internet is going gaga over wholesome content at the moment, I don't know what is.
Interestingly, the internet wasn't always the place to go for earnestness and wholesomeness. Even dog and cat pictures, a staple of the early World Wide Web, had a certain edge to them; one of the main requirements was that the picture had to be funny, with the pet either doing something derpy or acting like a human.
For most of their history, memes have been absurdist, surrealist and sometimes even required in-depth insider knowledge of the internet. Memes were like living organisms, evolving through time. But how did this shift from dank and ironic to nice and wholesome happen? And, more importantly, why?
Amanda Brennan, multimedia journalist, curator of Tumblr's fandom trends, and former contributor to Know Your Meme, says wholesome memes began to take center stage because our understanding of what the internet is for has changed. If before, it was about fake identities and sarcasm, today, it's all about authenticity.
"I think people are getting more in touch with presenting their authentic personalities online rather than presenting what they feel like they should be on social media," Brennan told Vox. "On Tumblr, authentic actions come first. You're there for whatever thing you love the most — animals, TV shows, musicians, your favorite ship. People are starting to realize that maybe it's okay to be that authentic version of yourself everywhere on the internet."
Other digital culture experts are saying that "wholesome" is the ultimate Gen Z compliment. Some even say that the word itself means something different to Gen Z. The Merriam-Webster defines 'wholesome' as "promoting mental or moral health and well-being" and "promoting health of body." But on the internet, it doubles as a synonym for "endearing."
"The word 'wholesome' now reflects something more positive, accepting, and feel-good," Julia Mathews, the president of King's College London Wholesome Society, told The Standard. "Perhaps this is in part due to Gen Z's awareness of the importance of wellbeing and mental health, as well as a desire for positivity in a world with increasingly negative mainstream content."
Perhaps people finally realized that being mean online doesn't make you feel any happier? Yes, we're prone to negativity bias, those who have a negative outlook on the world actually are at a disadvantage. One study of 180 nuns in Milwaukee found that joyful nuns live longer than their gloomy counterparts. So, would you rather be cringe or live longer?
