Memes have been a part of internet culture for as long as most of us can remember. They’ve been making us laugh, helping us cope, and giving us something to send to friends at 2 a.m. for years.
When they first started gaining traction, though, they looked very different than they do now. Usually, it was something like a funny photo or an animal with a bold caption at the top and a punchline at the bottom. They were pretty straightforward, and you didn’t need to be chronically online to get them.
As time went on, though, they’ve become weirder, more self-referential, and harder to explain. A single meme could be just one word, but to actually get it, you might need to know three other memes and maybe a TV show that went viral.
For an outsider, a lot of modern memes can genuinely seem like a fever dream. Like something a slightly unhinged person conjured up in their sleep. Honestly, many of the ones on this list fit that description perfectly.
A big reason for that change is social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have sped up how fast memes are created and spread.
A lot of today’s memes are also deeply tied to internet subcultures, so you often need insider knowledge to fully get them. As a result, what you end up with is content that’s increasingly absurd.
A prime example is the rise of brain rot. Usually made with strange AI images, edited to loud background music in a way that’s distracting and doesn’t make much sense, but designed to keep your attention.
Think Ballerina Cappuccina and Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Sahur.
In fact, the term “brain rot” was selected as the Word of the Year by Oxford University Press in 2024, beating out other meme-born words like “lore,” “demure,” and “slop.” In 2023, it was “rizz.” And in 2025, the title went to “rage bait,” which beat out “aura farming.”
All of these words sound pretty strange when you see them listed out like that, but they say a lot about how deeply internet culture has seeped into everyday language.
Probably the peak of meme nonsense as of late has been 67 (pronounced as six-seeeeven). If you’re already tired of it, sorry for bringing it to your screen.
But it’s become so widespread that Dictionary.com named it the word of the year in 2025. At this point, it’s everywhere. Online, offline, across continents.
You could be traveling in a completely different corner of the world, in some remote village, and if you walked past a group of kids or young adults, you could just say six seven.
Chances are, they’d scream it right back at you, complete with the hand motion that’s now practically universal.
What makes 67 interesting is that it doesn’t actually mean anything. Other viral phrases or memes at least have something behind them. Even Tung Tung Tung Sahur, as weird as he sounds, is a character you can point to and explain.
But 67 has nothing. It just exists.
It did come from somewhere, though. It started with the song “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla, where the lyrics “6-7” are repeated throughout. From there, it blew up on TikTok and Instagram, especially through edits tied to sports footage.
