what makes gen z humor so interesting?

[@milk6982]

"kissing the homies goodnight" is a good example. just the one sentence can either be sincere, ironic, post-ironic, meta-ironic or schrodinger's irony all in the same sentence with no additional words.

[@agatainventio9464]

i am thinking about each one and me brain broken now

[@dapperfob6194]

how is this funny ? gen z humor is pure garbage imo

[@carseatheadrestenthusiast6663]

@@dapperfob6194 L + ratio + gen z humor > your entire bloodline

[@jerm_]

how is this no different than millennials "no homo" jokes in the early 2000s? oh yeah yall just barely started existing.

[@milk6982]

@@jerm_ no homo implies you wanna do it without being gay. Gen z doesn't say no homo. We keep the line between irony and reality very blurry

[@kira-lilym6363]

"look at this graph" absolutely NEVER fails to knock me out i wasnt expecting it and i splurted

[@NonaMoreau]

I don’t get it please explain 😭 I know explaining a joke is not it, but still

[@doraaaa0613]

no cuz i was dying 😭😭😭

[@Purplesquigglystripe]

@@NonaMoreau he’s holding up a graph

[@halaman9500]

😂

[@evil_bnuuy666]

@@NonaMoreau the original lyric is "look at this photograph", which by itself isn't funny because it's intentionally sentimental. Transformation of the snippet into the "into look at this graph" is non-sensical and unexpected cuz "i don't remember that being in the song lol" and who tf cares about graphs so much to write such a song about them? ig that's why initially it was funny. Even tho the original vine had some meaning in it, it has been converted into a meme classic that people use as a reference. Vines have become their own entity so don't dig too deep into it

[@whatdadogdoin_]

"jkjk. unless..." is probably the embodiment of meta-irony lmao

[@zulthyr1852]

I will sacrifice the entire Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine so that I can conduct genetic experimentation to create the perfect waifu. Jk, unless...

[@whiteface513abandonedchann8]

Fr tho

[@omgitzpaige2013]

“are you kidding?” “only if you want me to be”

[@arogueburrito]

it's apathy in a way, like "wanna go out? Jk... unless?" As in, that would be desirable, but whateves

[@iantaakalla8180]

So “what if we kissed … Jkjk unless” is Gen Z humor?

[@ezekiellaww2524]

Gen Z humor is an inside joke, but it's an inside joke that's never been explained

[@MatsYoo]

Its an inside joke that nobody understands and everyone is constantly changing it so it stays that way😂

[@sxmplyblossom8048]

im r 69 like, your welcome

[@aarepelaa1142]

Yeah i could just add something only i know like having my dick stuck in an elevator door and it wouldn't change.

[@r0sie.t3a]

The strongest form of “you just had to be there”

[@orangequill1645]

Yeah deadass,Eventually youll figure it out but be unable to explain it

[@sharkattack2903]

I’ve never seen someone be this serious while showing a slideshow of memes on a screen before and it’s making me laugh even harder

[@tistachowdhury2920]

That's pro meta irony

[@rimiy]

@@tistachowdhury2920 😂

[@georgiasomething2064]

I had to switch my laughing smiling face with my stern listening/ concentrating face like a light bulb 😂

[@umopapisdn.]

im ur 2k like

[@dreamsalongthepath7377]

@Georgia Something lol that itself sounded like a gen z meme.

[@beverycarefuljohn586]

Millenials weren't the first generation with self depracating humor either. Dark jokes were popular in almost every society that endured some kind of big tragedy.

[@Vastilious]

the jokes in russia in the 90s are a example of this

[@sillycatsayshi]

@@penetrasean well, u were first at creating memes because u were born first lol it's not a race. just enjoy the memes and shut up.

[@nerasomnia]

@@penetrasean ??? Didn’t you get offended first? ilovepizzayk’s comment really boiled down to “chill out”.

[@nerasomnia]

@@penetrasean No, just confused

[@thepooaprinciple5144]

@@penetrasean We Millennials are being overlooked, just like our parents did when we started being forced to understand and basically transform how the web functions.

[@VivBrodock]

by showing memes in a completely serious and genuinely educational way this video is in fact an example of post-irony

[@efp7247]

Lol it's too complex at this point

[@ymmis03]

i'm confused?? wouldnt it be just sarcasm/irony because showing memes in an informative way is the opposite of what memes are for. could u explain???

[@jesther2575]

​@@ymmis03because genz humour is already ironic and absurd in itself

[@ymmis03]

@@jesther2575 ohhh thank you

[@JREG]

Let’s analyze some memes sometime

[@crake9510]

I was so confused when she mentioned you. Jreg has transcended

[@oliSUNvia]

i feel like i'm dreaming, call me descartes or whatever

[@Jreg2]

@@oliSUNvia The Gods collab :D

[@al3ph35]

This feels like a meta-ironic pickup line

[@nostalgicgirrl6053]

I just read the video title and I was like - THATS JREG! only to find your comment here. P.S. a rabbit hole down your videos is super depressing for a turbulent politically confused dialectic personality like me 🥲

[@iseetheendisnear2416]

I’ve noticed that embracing cringe and sincere ironic enjoyment are a big part of it. Where once we constantly made fun of “cringy” behavior, now we admit that we’re all cringe, that it even should be celebrated. But this may loop back around into being “quirky” and “chaotic” and therefore too sincere to be appealing

[@supersucks]

who needs to be based when u can be cringe 🚀🧎🏻‍♀️🍗

[@tink6225]

cringey people live happier tbh

[@sampalguita]

im cringe but im free

[@The-Devils-Advocate]

Doktor, turn off my cringe inhibitors

[@landonkam6727]

This explains why I unironically enjoy cringy fanfictions, they are enjoyable because they make me cringe, but also I can see the admirable amount of dedication they put into something they like.

[@khaleddwl5192]

15 years later and this will be dad jokes

[@zulthyr1852]

God I wonder what those mfs born in 2014 or something would come up with

[@206-k2r]

@@zulthyr1852 I don’t even want to think about it

[@qqq3494]

@@zulthyr1852 idc and i don’t want to know because their generation is called generation alpha which automatically makes them absolute assholes

[@zulthyr1852]

@@qqq3494 yeah theyre gonna send vr gore doujins to gen z

[@alvinsmith3894]

Stop I'm already meta cringing.

[@moltenink9137]

Honestly I think a major source of the meta-irony humor is the constant state of attack younger generations are under and the realization that you can't change people's minds, so mocking their attempts at ridicule is the apex response because the target of the meta-irony doesn't understand and has no response to it.

[@jessicam3707]

In my day Millennials called this “trolling”

[@lou3806]

@@jessicam3707Lmao

[@an3_omx]

Idk man I don’t feel under attack I just find this stuff funny

[@geometerfpv2804]

You CAN change peoples' minds...but not by doing the thing you're describing. That just serves to confirm their expectations. In my experience in the workplace, gen Z tends to think they have a lot to bring to the table even when they are entry level, which is false. Yes, enthusiasm and inspiration is good, but compared to a person with a decade of skill and experience, you're basically just getting in the way. That's how all of us started our careers. Gen Z seems not to accept this position. That's the biggest problem I run into. People aren't trying to "attack" them, they are just treating them according to the reality...but gen Z feels attacked and disrespected. Things like shutting down their ideas, not being open to their criticisms, telling them they will get it when they're older and so on feel like attacks...but once you have a decade of work experience, you realize they were right about you. I think gen z takes this harder than prior generations for some reason. I think they just had great expectations about their impact on the workforce. They respond by "quiet quitting", which I think is kind of just "adjusting to reality" like we all did. I think the thing that would change peoples' minds most effectively would be just to accept whatever circumstance your superiors install you in, and listen to the people who claim to know than you...they do! Try to do what they want. This can actually work. You CAN get to a place where you have control and autonomy and the ability to be creative...it just takes time, and careful strategy. Certainly you don't go straight there out of college. You'll have plenty of time to implement your own creative vision later in your career.

[@ariezon]

@@jessicam3707 tad bit of tomfoolery.

[@black369ace7]

I remember seeing a post that categorised the generations like this: Silent Gen = denial Boomers = anger Gen X = bargaining Millennials = depression Gen Z = acceptance This could explain why a lot of Gen Z humour is based on the fact that they’re facing the harsh reality of now whilst reacting in a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ kind of way.

[@sukiymo6284]

Interesting how those are the exact five stages of grief; in order too. I wonder what theme will define the next generation.

[@normanclatcher]

@@sukiymo6284 It'll just move on down the ladder. Boomers in denial, Gen X angry (or just grumpier), Millennials bargaining, Gen Z depression, and Alpha... will amusedly become the new meta.

[@InfamousHate]

this doesn't make sense. every generation understood the bleakness of life and the way people approached the nihilistic view of the world depends on the person, not the generation. its completely ridiculous to say that gen z understands the idea of fleeting happiness and grimness of the future more so than other generations. furthermore, from my understanding, i feel as if this video conflates nihilistic humor with meta-ironic humor. nihilistic humor has a purpose: to show the nihilistic aspects of life in a humorous way. the joke has an audience, an author, and it is meant to make a point. on the other hand, meta ironic humor has no purpose. there isn't suppose to be an audience. the humor itself isn't suppose to exist for an audience. its not even suppose to be a joke. the author doesn't even know what they made. it is both nothing and something. because of this, neither the author nor the audience are suppose to "get" meta ironic humor. for example, there is no such thing as a meta ironic persona. if the creator understands there is a persona, then it is just irony. meta irony would only make sense if the creator himself doesn't understand whether or not the person in the video is himself or the persona. because of this, the idea of meta irony having its "self inseparable from the comedic product" doesn't make sense at all.

[@normanclatcher]

@@InfamousHate You basically just admitted to not having watched Jreg content. The ambiguity exists, and there is space for a performer and persona in there-- distinguishable, irreconcilable, and thoroughly, _authentically_ irony-poisoned comedy.

[@InfamousHate]

@@normanclatcher um, no? the key idea is that something can't be meta ironic if the performer knows what they are doing. jreg clearly understands what he is doing. jreg is playing a character who is uncertain of his beliefs, ideas and personality. this character is the one displaying meta irony, not jr egg. because of this, jreg's content is not authentic meta irony. jreg's content is summed up as, in literary terms, pseudo meta ironic humor because jreg is ironically playing a character who is meta ironic. comprende, norman?

[@thepoglin8479]

A way to describe it is that every layer of irony feels like its almost trying to satirise the layer before it

[@usualdosage7287]

All those deep fried screenshotted memes are the perfect example of this, literal layers of editing

[@andrewsoe8374]

@@usualdosage7287 Deep fried memes are not an example of that

[@littlemonztergaming8665]

@@andrewsoe8374 If anything brings you closer to the relative truth of an idea, it's worth considering on the path to truth. It's like explaining school subjects to a child, you need to relate it to their world experience or they won't get it.

[@christopherrayner9392]

@@littlemonztergaming8665 Did you just try to wax philosophical about deep fried memes?

[@conman-sr5md]

​@@christopherrayner9392 they were just being post-meta-ironic, get with the times bozo 🙄

[@Im0nJupiter]

I think there's a significant link being missed here, which is that a lot of Gen Z was raised by Gen X. Gen X is also infamous for their absurdist humor, largely due to A) boomers being their parents and ruining the planet B) Vietnam and 9/11 C) living through two recessions which wiped out their hopes of retirement. We have a front row seat to the misery of our parents and adopted some of their coping strategies, but are so desensitized to misery by now that everything is a big joke--no matter how terrible. I feel like Gen Z is carrying the torch for Gen X, Gen X which was beaten down politically, never really stood up for themselves. I think a lot of us want to change that. It's also why boomers are such a target for our humor and Gen Xers mostly avoid our ire.

[@ariquarius2939]

isn’t the silent generation born around WWII?

[@Im0nJupiter]

@@ariquarius2939 Fuck, you're right lol, it's corrected now

[@jgr7487]

Gen X is the only one so far that gave rise to 2 Gens: Y & Z!

[@anshi5098]

I love Gen X so much. While my parents dont get the gen z humor they dont find it that absurd either.

[@peoplespoet1974]

@@anshi5098 Yeah, I am Gen X and my son (10) is Gen Z. His short crazy Tik-Tok funny videos I laugh at as well. Understanding the humor in English 80's irony reminds me of this as well. My mom,....a Gen boomer, finds his short videos bright, loud and horrifying. They don't seem to like the mic distortion scream effects they like to use at the spazzy end of a short clip. I get it. Funny sometimes. Like the two black brothers who beat each other up then one's mouth turns into an alarm siren? Mom comes in and beats everyone up. Ha ha ha.....funny....

[@AidZz]

my favourite part about gen z humour is that i am now physically incapable of taking something incredibly serious actually seriously because it just feels like part of the bit

[@19ars92]

That’s just you being mentally immature, has nothing to do with humor.

[@AidZz]

@@19ars92 good job, you got the joke 👍

[@19ars92]

@@AidZz right right ...

[@rexx2338]

​@@AidZzyeah man lacking the ability to know when to take something seriously is really interesting and cool thing about you

[@South-uh5wu]

​​@@rexx2338the response to the original commentor was ironic in that he was saying that he cant take things seriously, to which the reply responded in a serious manner. That is the irony.

[@anav390]

In my Spanish class, we've recently been learning a lot from the Baroque era. And let me tell you, I could not stop thinking about Gen Z humor. The way that they combined tragedy and comedy was certainly unique and a lot more elaborate than what we could ever do, but just knowing the way in which they compared death to so many things and tried their hardest to make it seem like some sort of masterpiece without being too pretentious, is just gold. I think that in a way, the people in our generation will grow up to be quite similar to the poets of that era

[@entretenimiento3347]

Your comment make me remmeber the pastoral novels of Spain in wich the characters are crude and use this humor in tragedy like some in the Celestine, Lazaro de tornes and others

[@MrThoughtfox]

the difference is the development of media and speed and spread of images and information. Baroque era might have developed tragicomic scenes and scripts in public performances and frescoes over months - gen Z will record and cobble together a video in a day.

[@tiagosobral7139]

Also I'd like to add how ironically philosophers spoke against religion while seemingly supporting it during the renaissance is pure gold, this coupled with the fact that the stakes were super high and you could be burnt alive if caught.

[@dsylexic]

el pepe

[@DaviRenania]

@@entretenimiento3347 Picaresque and Chivalric Novels are generally very funny but with a grim dark undertone.

[@kevinduliesco5468]

Gen Z humor is mostly satire,we've accepted or kinda know what's been going on and just convert it to humor,it's kinda an inside joke,in which you will only get it if you know the topic or the meme template

[@dreamsalongthepath7377]

It’s why boomer memes aren’t seen as funny.

[@emilv.3693]

I don't like inside jokes that much, mainly bc I'm never on the inside of them

[@gudinesangelicau]

Y e s-✨ but sadly no one of my school friends understand mine, even though I got into memes back in middle school- and I had friends throughout the year-

[@supereggtartersauce6464]

Gen z humor is just “no think, just see”. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as it’s unpredictable. Which is ironic. Because something being unpredictable all the time is also pretty predictable. Like that humor is randomly generated meme from a while back. We just want our brains to consume something without thinking about it. We just want to be mentally stimulated. Things that are abstract and absurd are pretty stimulating.

[@lemurluver12]

Big agree. Lots of shock value involved, lots of making light of dark topics. I feel like some humor makes me so uncomfortable that it’s somehow funny? especially if it’s relatable

[@johnindigo5477]

I always felt the best comedy should be unpredictable. Not random just always catching you by surprise.

[@johnindigo5477]

@@lemurluver12 I see that too. Making an audience uncomfortable, feeling uncomfortable at a joke, or seeing someone else this way usally adds great comedic effect. Cringe humor, taboo subject matter, and shocked reactions are most of the content I see people my age being interested in.

[@johnindigo5477]

Basically gen z wants to be entertained. Compilation videos are a great example. The best scenes, the editing, captions, the comments.

[@nadiaishimwe3663]

The "no think" part made me break out in laughter, wtf😭😭

[@sn33py]

I would say Gen Z humor is more absurdist than nihilistic, and understanding the role absurdism plays in how Gen Z approaches the world, as well as humor, is something interesting to think about.

[@AwesomeCadecraft]

As a member of Gen Z, I'd agree: the nihilism thing is one facet of our humor, while absurdism is sorta everywhere. Take some popular memes or videos from recent years: bread falling over, spinning rat, etc. That's what I find most unique: humor in the past always seemed to have a *point*, a message, and that's why people laughed. Now, when I laugh at a low-resolution spinning rat, it's purely because of the absurdity

[@geometerfpv2804]

​@@AwesomeCadecraftThat's not a "gen-z" thing, absurdism of that nature was around throughout my youth (age 33). There is always a certain kind of person that is into that. Novels have been written in that kind of style for decades.

[@sm1purplmurderedme583]

i’d say it’s both

[@GOTHPUNKLESBIAN]

@@geometerfpv2804 it being a gen z thing is in reference to the scale of absurdism, not the existence of it. i guarantee that Mongolian warriors on the Steppes in 300 AD would laugh their asses off at stupid, absurd stuff all the time, we're human. we just kinda do that. what makes gen z humor special is the scale in which it happens, the sheer amount of absurdity. absurdist, surrealist, and dark/nihilistic humor is much more widespread amongst us than really any other previous generation due to the global connection on the internet.

[@SaikiKFann]

​@@geometerfpv2804someone's jealous they didn't get a video 😮

[@zoc2]

Three thoughts mainly went through my head: 1. I forgor 💀 2. I feel bad for future history students dissecting political memes 3. 🚁

[@dominikweber4305]

Helikopter helikopter

[@dobbysrightsock]

adding ussy to the end of every fucking word 💀

[@dominikweber4305]

Zacharussy

[@zoc2]

@@dominikweber4305 lol

[@dobbysrightsock]

@@dominikweber4305 WHY

[@thunderbirdx7173]

I fear for what the NEXT generation of humor is going to be.

[@Pollicina_db]

Minions will have a comeback

[@Gotze_TH]

Being born in a quarantine must be pretty interesting, there are already videos of little kids not knowing what a dog is, i don't i feel like they are gonna be even weirder than us.

[@rockypikmin4493]

It doesn't go any lower from here. The next generation is going to loop back to "Fire look funny. Fire dance."

[@lilac_reed]

Bold of you to assume there will be a next generation

[@kirstein333]

@@lilac_reed OMG

[@samanthakittle]

I believe alot of Gen Z humor is an evolution of Tumblr humor, Ive noticed that alot of memes Ive seen are just recycled tumblr posts or could plausibly be tumblr posts.

[@thepastaprogenitor851]

That, vine humor, and whatever leftover remnants of 00s humor in 2015/16 are definitely the starting point of modern meme culture

[@whiteface513abandonedchann8]

Think of it like... a single celled organism repeatedly splitting and growing. Pathetic at first, Boomer humour. Recognizable and appreciatable on some level halfway through, Millennial humour. A tumorous cancerous mess growing and spiraling out of control consuming many completely unrelated things as it assimilates absolute havoc into itself, Gen Z humour. Classic Tumblr humour is somewhere between the 2nd and the 3rd and modern Gen Z humour is now the 3rd

[@App.ollo_]

Most of them are now, also Tumblr posts

[@DaviRenania]

Tumblr and 4chan. It's the doomsday fusion.

[@donniedewitt9878]

You mean 4chan posts

[@Chimera6297]

1970s humor: "I hate my wife!" 1990s humor: "I hate my life!" 2000s humor: rickrolls 2020: "you ever be eating C O F F E E"

[@daanstrik4293]

Why did I laugh at this

[@shadowchasernql]

@@daanstrik4293 A perfect example of the point we're trying to make.

[@theuscivicsnerd7070]

“Hell yeah”~ My gen z brain reading the 2020 humor

[@leonivanka6656]

😂😂😂😂😂😂Gen z memz are too hilarious bro!!!

[@stpdfknbch]

Y'all feel like y'all are trying too hard to be gen-z

[@meis18mofo77]

I feel like most Gen Z memes only contain the punchline which is why they are so confusing whenever you don't know the, often very scattered and obscure setup. I'm Gen Z and even I have to sometimes google what the fuck some memes are about and sometimes I stare at a reddit add for a couple of seconds, trying to understand the joke before noticing it's not some uber absurd meme but an add.

[@dreamingofthemoon]

Yess exactly

[@arfamaul6326]

the,

[@etherealstars5766]

@@arfamaul6326 Spunchbop?

[@Illessan]

Yeah this does bother me a lot, because most people won't do that google. So many times I've had to step in and moderate meme channels because someone's posted some crypto fash shit that they just thought was abstract absurdism

[@buggalo]

there have been soooo many times I've tried to figure out what the joke could possibly be on ads. sometimes that alone will make me laugh lmao

[@lemurluver12]

I don’t know if gen z is hopeful, I think we kinda collectively just know that everything shit but we’re just taking it day by day and trying to be happy in the midst of the chaos…. idk tho

[@lemurluver12]

great video tho :) I learned a lot and I’m glad I found u!!

[@mojojojo4726]

yeah

[@pancake4027]

I think it's more of a desensitization to bad things from our overexposure to all the shit going on in the world via the internet. We don't even care anymore. We see people dying and people being persecuted and war crimes being committed on a regular basis thanks to the internet, so instead of doing something about any of it, we make fun of it, because we're used to it. We don't take it seriously. She brings this up at the end of her video: the dangers of irony. Nothing matters anymore zoomers get the feeling that shit going wrong is the norm. So people joke instead of act

[@leaderoftaehyungnation9766]

@@pancake4027 yep.. i think this sums it up perfectly lol. for example the ww3 memes 😭 (but i’m sure lots of millennials participated in that too)

[@TTTups]

there is something to it in poland it's kind of a joke that people you wouldn't expect to be nice are nice like it's funny that there are people who help hedgehogs and friendly ask people about their gender to not misgender them and these people speak in a way that guys you would expect to be bigoted and angry speak so it's kinda like haha see there still are good people and love

[@gameinsane4718]

“Look at this graaaaaph” out of the blue always breaks me

[@dominikweber4305]

Look at this giraffe

[@ZacTBH]

it's just so absurd lol

[@erincorcoran5936]

It's always the cut to his just dead eyed smile that kills me

[@HeavyMetalorRockfan9]

@@erincorcoran5936 same here, don't know any other meme that fucking ends me the same way

[@Thaloop255]

Graph goes 📈 📉 babushka

[@zahubshahid7944]

Olivia's point about Gen Z joking about really messed up subjects is on point. There was a meme I saw recently that had two guys sitting in a classroom looking directly into the camera. And the caption was "me and my homie looking at the quiet kid loading up a M16A4 with carbon fiber suppressor but we can't say anything because we're mewing." That meme had me laughing hard for 2 minutes. It's terrible but like... the absurdity of two people not warning a classroom full of people because they're mewing had me dying laughing.

[@dealusion]

I believe a general explaination for what Gen Z humor is like is the fact that we made these emojis "😭" and "💀" expressions for when something is funny. If you give it enough thought, it makes SO much sense.

[@Tri-otus]

I’m trying to figure out how it couldn’t make sense :/

[@whatelsedoc2604]

Wrong, that's all x, you z's would call this an "L" or a "newbie" fail

[@freya6921]

@@whatelsedoc2604 nobody ever says “newbie” anymore.

[@whatelsedoc2604]

@@freya6921 No they just coined it

[@randomnoob101flyhightweek]

@@freya6921 idfk mah dude

[@alienatedlibrarian5017]

I think the millennials' dark humor has that bitter edge because we were born into a world that promised us everything and didn't deliver. Gen Z was born on a burning planet. They accept hopelessness as part of the human condition.

[@Copyright_Infringement]

I literally saw someone say exactly this 5 years ago about Millennials, as compared to Gen X. Perhaps these two generations are not so different from each other

[@dynawesome]

Yeah honestly in many Gen Z circles believing in the American Dream is a fringe idea

[@gregpaul882]

That’s because gen x and millennials were all raised by boomers. The only difference is young millennials were steeped in internet culture from their formative years. Gen Z has always been online. I think most of the humor is really directed at the constant flood of media consumption.

[@alienatedlibrarian5017]

@@gregpaul882 Certainly the shape of the humor has almost everything to do with the internet.

[@mr.wonder4629]

Things are not that bad. Zoom out. It is a miracle.

[@skeletonera9869]

gen z dark humor is knowing everything is shit and laughing light-heartedly about it. Im gen z and whenever I watch something sad I laugh even tho its not supposed to be funny,(my mom thinks its really weird) I just dont like everything being so serious so I try to mock what ever I can to lighten the mood

[@yooseul__]

bro same when it’s serious i get hella uncomfortable so i just kinda adapted to laugh when i’m sad

[@skeletonera9869]

@@yooseul__ yea haha my mom thinks im emotionally stunted or something

[@iamdissapointed6810]

@@yooseul__ same when something serious or sad happens i kinda just laugh and get uncomfortable.

[@nickniehaus1763]

@@yooseul__ so you dont really accept anything and remove yourself from real emotions and dont deal with anything at all?

[@yooseul__]

@@nickniehaus1763 what 😟🖐 when things get heated on like politics, race,the world problems, ect i get uncomfortable and turn it into a joke so i laugh to avoid things

[@GeoX_Boss]

Just the unpredictability and randomness of Gen Z humor make it hilarious and the fact that we laugh at it senselessly makes it even funnier

[@maddypape]

can't wait until Gen Z people make up the majority of stand up comics, it's gonna be an absolute clusterfuck

[@aditi4455]

As a gen Z stand-up comic I can assure you that most of our shows will be at funerals of fellow Gen Z comics :)

[@mental263]

as an older gen z i cannot wait for that as well.

[@michaelkoyiet5684]

i just hope mfs is actually funny and not regurgitating memes though

[@Kiritomens]

@@michaelkoyiet5684 maybe funny, maybe not

[@flamingaish]

💀

[@rchow8051]

I’ve seen gen-z humor memes of the most random ass images and words slapped together and it’s the funniest shit ever. Idk why it’s so great, but I find myself crying from laughter.

[@elmaxo1591]

But when its always random is also predictable, so i dunno

[@someonewithandwithoutthoug3414]

Shocking!!

[@TheRovingPunster]

L E M O N

[@hentai6582]

Short attention span.

[@eep_eep]

Yeah I there was this flag with the face on this anime character I like alot on it, and I stood there for FIVE MINUTES laughing at it humor is broken

[@fishfinnns]

Gen Z humour is really just one big inside joke.

[@Eorzat]

This is the perfect synopsis.

[@dream.5708]

This!!

[@rockaria11]

YEssS

[@muroojmokake8620]

finally someone who gets it

[@jusvibe_]

and whenever u try to explain to a millennial they just never seem to get it

[@nookers]

as an older millennial born in the 1980s, I was considered eccentric and even crazy/insane for some of the meta humour I tried to pull in the 2000s... but now I thank the youngers for doing it and doing it well. I feel better.

[@nookers]

and I'm not taking credit for Gen Zs unique brand of meta humor.

[@nookers]

Just appreciating it.

[@sebdapleb1523]

@@nookers we can tell that your from the 80s cause you don't know how to edit a comment

[@johnnyzain2072]

@@sebdapleb1523 ur so rude for what?

[@Lilyjem39]

nice!

[@ruoye7]

What i also find interesting about gen z humor is that you genuinely have to be near chronically online to understand all the jokes. I deleted tiktok for a long while and redownloaded during the grimace milkshake memes era and I literally had no clue what the hell was going on😭

[@MG-SM]

bro, not even the ppl watching know what is going on.

[@allosaurustime]

Yeah, and memes “die” really fast too which doesn’t help. There’s this idea that you always have to be relevant with the memes, so if you leave an app and come back later it’s an extra weird experience. I went inactive on Instagram a few years ago and came back while the amogus sus sussy memes were in full swing and it was nuts. I didn’t even know what among us was even though it had become popular

[@casuallavaring]

I wonder if Gen Alpha’s humor will be built around total face-value sincerity. If you’re born into a world where irony and postmodernism is the norm, rebellion means being completely earnest

[@randomnoob101flyhightweek]

but anti-memes are also funny, sincerity is funny and all the levels of irony are funny. everything is funny if theres no context, funny, if there is context 50/50 chance of being funny. so ab 75% of things are funny

[@randomnoob101flyhightweek]

and yes, i did a smart and did math lol

[@F4ulpilz]

really good point, I also thought about that

[@rexnemorensis8154]

Exactly, the thing with gen z is that they were born into a loud world, where the entire cultural space was saturated with the madness of the other generations. This explains the desire for exclusivity in their humour, as opposed to traditional humour trying to be more universal. Thus, they didn't develop a sincere cultural voice and instead have become a generation of court jesters, rightly mocking the others, sometimes out of compassion, sometimes out of resentment. The downside of making everything a joke is that it removes the option for sincerity, with no leg to stand on it opens the door for total chaos. Generation Alpha will either return to sincerity, and reclaim truth and authenticity from the ashes of nihilism, turning from technology back towards the state of Being. Or be overcome by nihilism and follow it further still.

[@Some-Rage-Inducing-Provocateur]

@@rexnemorensis8154 ", where the entire cultural space was saturated with the madness of the other generations" If you say that Gen Z has not committed any madness, then you would be wrong. They have been pushing dishonest progressive left-wing leaned politics in the entertainment industry, promoting intolerance of certain things that are part of human nature.

[@Mr0nknown]

I think Gen Z is really all about absurdism, from their meme formats to the lighthearted jokes about bad events. I think they have simply heard so many "bad news" that they simply started to find it funny how everyone is constantly overreacting, and it started to appear "absurd". They lost their seriousness about these kind of things. And this bleeds into their humor as well. Well, that's just my take on it :)

[@flow1465]

It's not just Gen Z though. It's going on for a long time. When tragic struck, people try to make fun of the tragedy as it's fun and people can relate to it. Yeah, the means of saying it are different, but to be honest there's nothing to be proud of it here.

[@flitefulwantssubs402]

It's not that people are overreacting about problems, it's that we are constantly exposed to faults in the world that we grow numb to them. Our heightened awareness also closes our awareness of issues in a sense

[@Atmnoah]

i think its a way to cheer us up from the constant input of negative news coming from social media

[@joez6235]

Not only that, the memes give meaning to the absurdity. It's refreshing to be able to accept that something isn't supposed to make sense

[@EKIANandWolvesGaming]

that's Horazonki Japan in a nutshell

[@helldeirch]

I wonder if Gen Z kids will still find Gen Z humor funny when they're 30 years old

[@uboa8060]

Judging how "sus" is an integral part of my vocabulary, I feel that it won't ever go away

[@MarcusCollins69]

@@uboa8060 E A sports

[@jdcsiahaan]

@@MarcusCollins69 BEANS

[@MarcusCollins69]

@@jdcsiahaan BA ba boy

[@wouldbegood]

@@uboa8060 "Gay" used to be an integral part of millennial vocabulary.

[@lizan1993]

1993 Millennial here, i absolutely adore gen Z. I don’t always get the humor and am not on tiktok. But me and my 30y/o friends tend to be in this state of passive negativity. We are bitter because we don’t own a house and will likely never be able to afford one. My 20-23y/o friends will be like “why would you need a house? I’m gonna live in a van” and I’m like ‘??’. There is this lightheartedness and creativity that helps me change my perspective on negative stuff in society. My youth in the 90s were great and careless, but that time has past, we need to find the carelessness in ourselves to stay hopeful in this time

[@owiwie]

Honestly, I think that despite everything olivia just said and a gen z myself, another key difference is that there's a lot of underlying hope. Most people I know are gonna go chase their dreams regardless of whether or not they think it will work out, which leads to a kind of fearless individuality that usually we have a hard time doing in regular day to day life, like the way we dress or joke for that matter

[@jonny-dp2qr]

Good on you for not wanting to live in a van. I don’t think it’s a good thing

[@kalla103]

exactly! this lightheartedness is much needed!

[@owiwie]

@@user-ox7uw2lu8d agreed, I think it's important to recognize our problems which is why I made it a point to say I agreed with Olivia on most of her comments about gen z. If that wasn't clear in my original comment, I apologize :)

[@zelowatch30]

Gen z is too hive minded.. they spam comments saying the same thing and think repetition is funny

[@vanessa-iv8qz]

It’s also local. Outside of the west, genz humour is different. I can already see I’ll love this video

[@stavripapaleontiou4384]

It's so amazing to think about this. As someone who doesn't live in the west we also created our own humor for our generation!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@oliSUNvia]

so true!

[@stavripapaleontiou4384]

@AnOriginal Name Totally agree on that

[@vanessa-iv8qz]

@AnOriginal Name maybe the format, I’d argue. But the content is very regional. Socioeconomic politics and local news, in general, influence most of the memes genz does over here. Not so much self deprecating humour per se. But your point stands still tho!!

[@brutus3631]

absolutely, I'm from Poland and a lot of our memes have the same template of metairony and tropes but it's made in different ways making it have a different vibe

[@sofija3349]

In a lot of online spaces, there has actually been a big increase in telling the audience when something is ironic or not! Especially on Twitter, I’ve seen loads of people using tone indicators. This makes jokes with layers of irony more accessible to people who have trouble with reading the tone/context of joke, and therefore makes more gen z humor accessible to more/different kinds of people :)

[@christenp4671]

sadly people won't put it in wide use because it takes away the inside joke feel of stuff. i like using /s tho

[@kita3914]

what if someone uses tone indicators ironically?

[@sofija3349]

@@kita3914 I’ve seen a lot of people speaking up against people using tone indicators ironically, even though it’s bound to happen :( I think the best we can do is make sure it’s clear that it’s a tool and not a joke, even if people still misuse them

[@kita3914]

i mean what's the point of making joke by telling them it's a joke

[@sofija3349]

@@kita3914 for example, you might use it if you’re insulting someone jokingly and want to make sure they know it’s not serious

[@naomibelet]

hot take: the "✨c h a o t i c e n e r g y✨” of gen z humour is parallel to the "i'm so random rawr XD" part of millennial humour.

[@unes8766]

history repeats itself lol

[@naomibelet]

@@unes8766 exactly. Same thing with “politically gen z is actually hoping to change things” - that’s just young people in general. In 2007 before Obama got elected everyone was hopeful for change and they were fighting for it. I sound like a pessimist hahaha

[@ilianmandev]

lol and on top of that, now gen z also makes fun of the "chaotic energy" "omg im such a crackhead" type of humor. the amount of layers is endless.

[@wrioculus]

not a hot take, this is just a fact.

[@naomibelet]

@@ilianmandev the internet has always been a never-ending game of oneupmanship - everyone’s just tryna prove they’re ahead of the curve so as soon as something’s popular, it’s lame. Once we accept that deep down we’re all lame, we find ourselves on the only true path to peace ✌️😩 🕊 💯

[@jaelleouapou4578]

I always get confused when ppl say we grew up with social media. I feel like it didn't become a part of my life until middle school which is still young but definitely different from having it around as an actual child.

[@boredrat2573]

I feel like most of us had KZbin as kids and that’s a social media just not as social as say instagram.

[@laifilms]

i think what people mean by this is primarily youtube. although, gen alpha are going to get it much worse than we did - they’re fed youtube as babies, and then most are on tiktok, instagram, snapchat, by the age of 8 or 9.

[@Sunnysideup420]

@@laifilms I think it’s more we grew up with the internet than social media. We also had our own sites to go to. I know a lot of people who used to go on their school computers and would go on coolmathgames or club penguin. Now, a lot of us still went through seeing content we shouldn’t see, but we still had these websites that were made FOR everyone. Unlike gen alpha that only has Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. Flash games are now dead. Websites like Club Penguin are also dead. The kids don’t have a website to go to anymore that is appropriate for them

[@jacobbartlett331]

In all fairness I’ve known multiple people who have received phones as early as elementary school

[@dashaa6174]

@@jacobbartlett331 jeez. I got my first phone when I was like 13

[@morningmorgan6341]

I’m just stuck on how you described an entire generation with “rawr XD potato” and I feel attacked 🤣

[@christianh2581]

I have now idea what a "rawr XD potato" persona could be (even after googeling for it). I feel old now 😅

[@clowdyglasses]

@@christianh2581 depending on how old you are i don't think it's possible to explain it to you. Not because "bleh you're too old to know this" but because of how convoluted the timeline for the internet's history is

[@catcat4697]

@@christianh2581 in as few words as possible, it comes down to acting childish to appear more adorable.

[@jasmintea8825]

So...is your "😂" emoji sincere or ironic? Or post ironic? Or meta??

[@valenmoshi]

@@jasmintea8825 Ironic emojis 😩

[@josephmama5355]

I feel like while gen z’s humor seems random, I don’t think it’s out of a love for randomness exactly. We literally make fun of the overly random cause its just kinda cringey? I feel like what our humor essentially is is an absurdist rebellion against previous ways of thinking. We have gathered online and created a culture that feels very separated from other generations, and we express that in our humor by being anti what is traditionally seen as good or sensical or intelligent. So when something represents this by being so stupid its funny or so absurd its funny we love it. Our humor is more a love of the absurd than the random i think

[@rainbowzzzplayzzz]

a love of making fun of the love of the random in a way, which in itself is a love of the random because the only way to be satirically random is to be random which is the funny part

[@imnottellingyoumyname7122]

I wrote a paragraph somewhere else in the comments section but essentially, I think we have surpassed randomness/absurdity in some way, saying somthing Normal is just that, normal Saying somthing absurd and acting as if it's absurd is the next step, however it envitably becomes unfunny if said enough, to remain funny the tone shifts to Saying something absurd and acting as if it's normal, the joke being that the speaker is unaware of the strange nature of the action and has embraced this action as normal There's probably even more layers than that too

[@codyshelley9022]

your pfp is kinda a perfect example barney is supposed to be round and soft looking but your pfp is super exaggerated/realistic and buff barney and it’s hilarious

[@intergalacticmaru]

YOUR PFP IM WHEEZINFNGNFF

[@josephmama5355]

@Lauri London I actually think gen z is way more open and accepting then previous generations, though that might just be cause i'm from a super diverse area. I think we'll see a shift once gen z is actually old enough to be in positions of power

[@jackyhii5655]

oh god i pity the generation that has to study our humour

[@chirulitos_9959]

if the earth doesn't die before they get the chance to 💀💀

[@auspicious.emilia]

you’ll soon pity yourself for studying your kid’s humour in the future 💀

[@magiveem]

@@auspicious.emilia if they have any

[@someone-re7sq]

if there even is a next gen

[@emilv.3693]

@@magiveem that is entirely up to you...

[@maiii420]

as an autistic person, this helped me to understand more of my own generation. amazing essay!

[@G59forlife.]

Ye

[@als5790]

For real yes but I’m 28 and now approaching gen z with caution, still don’t understand normal sarcasm, wondering how many things I’ve misinterpreted. Goal now will be to try not overthink all interactions. Always thought gen Z were kinda much cooler than I ever was but now autism aside for a moment I’m starting to think they’re also much smarter in a weird way. This is advanced social interaction or something lol

[@thisismahba9935]

I feel like Gen Z's accepted how terrible this earth really is, and they've seen how terrible things are/can get. I think it's pretty obvious that this generation would be filled with activists, since they are in a world where people freely talk about how terrible things REALLY are, which then make them feel hopeless. I like that you emphasized the hopelessness that Get Z and millennials feel. I feel like not much people talk about the "how," instead they blame our overexposure of the internet and move on with their daily lives because there are "more important things to worry about." We are the next generation, how we act is justified. Millennials and Gen Z should stand together, both generations make a powerful duo.

[@creatingvideostobreakmyspe6049]

I feel like this sense of despair is often too much and people are honestly using both memes and this nihilistic ideology to become sort of counter culture, which is ironically becoming mainstream. I guess that sentiment is just as funny as the kind of stuff that passes for humor nowadays.

[@authenticbaguette6673]

I feel as if this nihilism/cynicism has the opposite effect, it's part of a larger cultural trend that is bent on pacifying the people who cannot escape their awareness of the brutality of this late-capitalist, post-Cold-War hell hole we live by pushing these people over the edge and selling them despair. It's evident, although it might not have occured to you, in the way you say "...this earth is terrible" or things along these lines that paint the nature of our civilisation as something far more immutable than it actually is. It's a form of collective, concerted even, amnesia. A few decades ago, nationalised, free healthcare and higher education used to be the norm. Now people are labelling single-payer healthcare as "commie utopianism." Scientists 50 years ago were actively warning us, and had reached consensus about climate change, and now we are "debating" it with right-wingers for smug "gotcha" points and internet cred, as if that's all we are good for. To quote Mark Fischer's "Capitalist realism": "...It's easier [for people] to imagine the end of the world, than to imagine the end of capitalism."

[@Josephine_de_Beauharnais1763]

Yeah, there is a big sense of hopelessness and some people have given up, but there are many, many activists trying to actually create change. Personally it's like a "wth have you done with the world it's getting murdered I'm not gonna sit around when I didn't choose to kill the planet" so like indignant and feeling like it's unfair so it creates even more motivation to not take it lying down beyond the "don't want to die" reason because that won't keep me going. We have dark humor that acknowledges the fecked up world we live in and has a way to cope with it while spreading awareness. A kind of light-hearted "world's dying guess we should do something" vibe. At least that's what I think.

[@thisismahba9935]

​@@Josephine_de_Beauharnais1763 I agree with you!

[@Nezumi99]

i feel like gen z tend to put responsibility on everyone BUT themselves. like...oh my parents did this, my boss did this, my friends...i am like this because men...i am like this because women...they didn't accept it, they basically rather be whiny babies then do something about it. and i say that as an early gen z

[@safala]

Personally, I think gen Z humor is just us laughing at the randomest (I know) shit we can't explain why it's hilarious.

[@len0_069]

* inserts bread slice falling video*

[@safala]

@@len0_069 You. I like you.

[@alaskabane5340]

It's also like accepting all the shit thrown at Gen Z, like the worst that can happen? Death? Yeah we are fine with it

[@safala]

@@alaskabane5340 Definitely. The fact that we are living in a planet that is burning, a economy that is spiraling down and with people whose ignorance is reaching sky-high is worse than death.

[@alaskabane5340]

@@safala Honestly, it also makes sense that this is the generation with all time high rates of depression and anxiety, since we are constantly exposed to these things via internet (which admitedly was not something millenials had)

[@jvno8868]

Gen Z humor is basically 13 jokes quickly told and you managed you laugh at all of them within 2 seconds

[@billygreggory7899]

Xavier renegade angel

[@joelcoll4034]

That's not all gen z humor

[@tuxtitan780]

​@@billygreggory7899that show is a fever dream I love it

[@billygreggory7899]

@@tuxtitan780 Same. I basically have it memorized

[@axelanderson2030]

​@@billygreggory7899 that's not really the same

[@itrashcant7947]

I feel like Gen Z is simultaneously in despair and willing to make a change. Like “nothing in life matters” but instead of seeing it as fruitless struggling, seeing it in a way to create our own meaning.

[@ss2gora0]

That's happened with every generation.

[@dreamingofthemoon]

This!!

[@takebacktheholyland9306]

Sisyphus

[@moafwaz5563]

shit posting on the internet isn't creating your own meaning.

[@mariaconnell]

in short form, our humor is basically a coping mechanism

[@rowanfroese8577]

Humor has always been a coping mechanism, we just took it to the extreme

[@crazybabuskaman3923]

@@rowanfroese8577 Exactly. Humour is something that makes us laugh even when our days are shitty, that’s the whole point. HUMOR is a way of coping with pain or sadness. It’s a way to feel better in this shitty world

[@gudinesangelicau]

I- ur right 😃

[@Shashu_the_little_Voidling]

As someone born in 1997 I genuinely find myself caught in a void between these two generations, relating more to both with different things at different times

[@selenajarv8763]

Bruh for a second I read 1997 as 1797 Yes I am very stupid

[@zynthio]

Zillenial gang

[@bruce-le-smith]

generations do overlap / it is complex

[@danielhuang2488]

same. i'm 1998

[@otakumangastudios3617]

Also, people like to make these dark lines about generation, but you can't really. Some of us genuinely grew up in environment that really resembled the '80s and '90s, I didn't interact with anyone on the internet I didn't already know until quarantine

[@firelaf1284]

Being born 1997-1999 is such a weird limbo land. You were old enough to be on the internet during the Tumblr, old KZbin meme era, and you're still young enough to be understand gen z humor.

[@-drome]

truth

[@skyguy8786]

born 2000 and same.

[@ceciliocedonoblocnote]

real

[@thotieprincess7190]

born 2002 and same

[@Banex01gosha]

My problem is when I try to explain post and meta humour to my elderly relatives they think that gen z made these types of humour up, but in fact at some point in my life my humour naturally evolved into post/meta irony and only after several years I learned about post/meta irony

[@vladalexander7489]

Gen Z humor also ranges from extremely absurd humor like the "bogos binted 👽" or "I forgor💀" to what I can call "Optimistic" or "Utopian" humor such as the Gigachad and chad memes. I think that those Gen Z memes are a way of escaping the reality and often boring situations we live in (even the woret stuff that happened in the 2010s+ have just become too common and ppl have grown tired out of it) coupled with the inability to enact meaningful change (ex the bushfires in early 2020 and the ww3 memes). By this I mean that the surrealist humor distract us from the normal life, and the utopian memes show a common goal of an utopia where people wish to identify themselves in it. We see content creators such as Kracc bacc making the most absurd memes using random memes like the "John Xina Bing Chilling video", the "Chinese Eggman Xue hua piao piao bei feng xiao xiao" and a strong emphasis on the "Reject humanity, return to Monke" memes, imo a sign of willingness to escape the cruel reality of all the social problems we are faced with -> desire to leave responsibility and just play like the Monkes. We also have on the other hand content creators like Millenia Thinker that make use of the wojack series of persona to show negative traits like simping, thotery and narcissism which provides a solution : The Chad Formula. This is imo the utopian Gen Z idealism, a personification of what so many want to be. Such desire is also explained in many videos created by Meme Analysis (honestly if you don't know these people I suggest you watch a bit, the content is great on all sides) which dwelves into psychology to explain the Chad memes and the "GF series" of dreams. So all in all I believe the two faces of Gen Z humor is a "Responsibility in moderation" where the content produced and consumed ranges from the most radical absurdity to figures of common sense, admiration, and the ideal "Ubermensch". It ranges from the most entertaining content to ground-based addressing of contemporary problems not via fighting those problems directly, but rather making yourself the Chad instead of the simp (throwback to my point of inability to meaningfully change the world except yourself). Thx for coming to my Ted Talk)))

[@ezracarson4543]

Don't know how this affects your thinking but you should know that the chad/virgin meme format and the gigachad meme both started on 4chan and came with all the racist and sexist baggage you'd expect from that website. In fact, a great deal of meme types and formats have a similar lineage. Not that they can't be transformed for other less ugly uses, but it's also not something you can overlook.

[@pangolin0]

@@ezracarson4543 Actually I would say that you could easily look past it. 4chan contains living people that are capable of producing creative works just like anyone else except they are often made with crap smeared over it. All you gotta do is wipe up the mess. A diamond is still a diamond even if you found it in a garbage tip. I think caring about where an idea comes from is limiting. Someone who is regarded by society as bad is able to speak something of value. Someone who is regarded as being good could actually say something that isn't.

[@ezracarson4543]

@@pangolin0 I agree mostly, the only caveat I'd add is that some memes just by their structure can imply certain frameworks that cant be transcended within the format of the meme itself. A chad/virgin meme (just for instance) is pretty much always gonna imply that heiraechies exist, and that they can be identified and labeled.

[@yaboibobby7776]

I forgor 💀

[@eternallyidyll]

@@yaboibobby7776 LMAOAO this is great, very on topic with the video. the typical use of the skull combined with the misspelling combined with the fact that you literally copied that from the comment- this is funny and if you need an explanation watch the video.

[@JamisonMyth]

I think the young person's urge to categorize their humor as a new misunderstood innovation is just the mirror reflection of the old person's urge to dismiss young peoples humor as childish non-sense. In both cases a generation claims their humor as more advanced and accuses the other generation of not being able to understand their superior humor. Comedy comes from subverting expectations, so if your expectations are sufficiently different from someone else's the same joke won't be funny to both of you. That's why its easier to get jokes from people your age than the jokes of people much older or younger than you. If you saw surrealist humor from the 60s you wouldn't even know it's a joke, just the same way boomers don't get deep fried memes.

[@et5895]

THIS. THIS. THIS

[@pencil6965]

Finally a sensible take

[@possums154]

Wait show me surrealist humour from the 60s you've piqued my interest

[@racermk8759]

@@possums154 yeah I’m interested to

[@FLmanispretty]

Except the gen-z humorists don’t even bother accusing older generations of not understanding, we just don’t care

[@camerondundale784]

I really appreciate how you included that Gen Z didn’t invent a lot of pieces of their humor but changed it and made it into their own. Millennials created a lot of great humor and I honestly don’t think we and Gen Z are as different as some may think.

[@leej1759]

As a millennial with younger gen-z siblings I agree. However, I don’t feel like gen-z has the same admiration for us that we had for gen-x. They treat us like old news.😂

[@spigney4623]

I keep thinking of this article I found back in like 2010 called "why is millennial humor so weird?" And the picture they used was a deepfried, neon green meme of a slenderman creature hunched over a bowl of cereal and the text: cornn flaek

[@camerondundale784]

@@leej1759 haha I don’t know how much respect I had for Gen X growing up but I definitely know Gen Z seems to think very poorly of us when they’re just a slightly altered version of millennials honestly

[@camerondundale784]

@@spigney4623 LOL yeah that’s the bulk of my memory of millennial memes

[@whiteface513abandonedchann8]

@@spigney4623 SCP-096. I suppose you could say it's similar to Slenderman because you'll die to both if you stare them in the face. But imho 096 is a lot cooler of a creature concept. It's like if you mixed an Enderman with the Doomslayer

[@cory9820]

this is why we invented ~ tone indicators ~ bc being autistic is harder than ever rn i personally love them

[@AdamGaskins]

also something to consider: there are so many subcultures of humor and memes that it is IMPOSSIBLE to quantify or document. many gen Z just browse tiktok and consume very sincere content (makeup, fashion, sports etc). I led a Highschool group full of Zoomers who weren’t chronically online at all

[@samt3412]

I don't think the video's notion of millenials and Gen Z being these supposedly traumatized generations compared to earlier generations being the reason for our irony makes much sense. If that were true, then the Greatest Generation would've been more ironic than Millenials and Gen Z combined. I think it's how fast both generations consume information and how fast jokes get old, as well as the utterly absurd buildup of referential humor. In fact, I would argue that the sheer quantity of cultural reference to go off of for reference humor is why our humor is so ironic. A lot of early reference humor (see: Smosh's Zelda Rap and anime abridged series) usually added a layer of satire or irony to the thing they were spoofing. Now, you have people parodying and referencing that, adding yet more irony, as well as creating subcultures online around these in-jokes. In 2023, every meme feels like a reference to a satire to a parody to a reference to a sincere, sensible punchline because of all those series of references. It's not "omg guys we're so traumatized because of 9/11 or global warming or whatever", it's how ridiculously fast jokes get traded out, satirized, etc. online. Just look at amogus humor and what I'm saying will make sense.

[@usualdosage7287]

Exactly, saw a comment saying gen z can't be sincere it's like I have deep, sincere, genuine conversations with people all the time

[@louisdrouard9211]

​​@@samt3412 exactly. Jokes turn faster and require more and more references. What you call meta-irony just is irony if you know the source and context (therefore the intent) and it is pretty much not funny otherwise (which is the joke).

[@boredrat2573]

@@samt3412so true!

[@number1garfieldfan-k5c]

Gen z, mellenials, and i would argue gen x had trauma enough to still be like completely fine but still affected, the greatest gen had generational trauma that was like actual truama where they just arent the same afterwards

[@leok_925]

i think those levels of irony also apply to fashion a lot too. like, wearing stuff ironically is drip, and wearing stuff not ironically is lame

[@izzy-cd1oh]

Bucket hats

[@randomnoob101flyhightweek]

@@izzy-cd1oh the imbetween of drip and lame, and we love them all the same

[@maiu1922]

long jorts.

[@panhradu]

What about wearing stuff past-ironically or meta-ironically?

[@usualdosage7287]

Like those y2k affliction shirts

[@choerim]

This video helped me understand why I can't enjoy gen-z humor, as a neurodivergent person I normally don't have issues picking up sarcasm and post-irony, but the meta-irony just baffles me, like, I really don't know which aspect of it I'm supposed to be laughing at. The fact that a behavior is replicated exactly but done by a different person? The fact that I'm confused cause I don't know whether someone is ironic or not? It just sounds tiring. I respect the humor and don't have anything against it, objectively I can see why someone could laugh at it, but in my brain it just doesn't register as humorous

[@danackroydsbutt]

Honestly I think you're saying what all of us are thinking

[@ryumii1701]

I like your magic words, magic boomer

[@choerim]

@@ryumii1701 never expected to enjoy being called a boomer, thanks for adding the magic in there (but for the record, I'm a gen z)

[@raapyna8544]

What I get from a joke like that (where you mimic someone exactly) is that the joke is 'Imagine if I was like this' (in which case it's malicious) or 'I'm not like this but I can play along to connect with this person' (in which case it's sweet) and it just comes down to knowing the person who made the joke.

[@swetha.9108]

I'm exactly the same but I feel the exact opposite. Not knowing the difference between seriousness and the different levels of irony amuses me.

[@inanis6707]

We were born in dark humor, molded by it. Millenials merely adopted it

[@omerabouzeid4484]

Can’t tell if this is meta irony or not😭

[@miovi123]

@@omerabouzeid4484that means they did it right doesn’t it

[@_sayan_roy_]

Yes, thank you. Millennials are equivalent to the Batman and you Bane. You will die soon with a peak happening but no one will remember your villainy like the iconic Joker. A good villain or anti hero but that's it. Nothing noteworthy and significant.

[@Hoodie_HD]

@@_sayan_roy_ lmao okay

[@Caroline-hw9yw]

7:04 this is the exact explanation I was looking for to explain how I feel about dark humor. The exact same offensive joke can be funny when one person says it and uncomfortable when someone else says it, and it really comes down to the sincerity of the person telling the joke. Like, if someone makes a sexist joke the underlying theme of that joke is a dislike or disrespect of women, but if I know the person making the joke isn't misogynistic then I usually find those funny. However, if the person making the joke has a history of saying and doing things that make me believe they sincerely dislike or don't respect women, then the irony (and hence the actual joke) is basically gone and it's just not funny. It's hard to express how the same joke changes just because of who says it, but I finally feel like I have a solid reason, so thank you :).

[@charliekelly]

I understand what you mean. When the context surrounding a statement changes, how the statement will be received also changes.

[@jolp9799]

oh dude!! you kinda put into words why i feel kinda iffy when self proclaimed feminist men make sexist jokes. usually it's to make fun of the source which is someone else being sexist, but it's like....is it irony if you're not apart of the group? if it's not irony to begin with, then how can it be meta ironic?

[@Axl4325]

Now I kinda understand why Jschlatt can get away with so much, he says stupid stuff but it´s like we all know he doesn´t mean it

[@penguingobrr41]

So basically what I get from this is the distinction between sexist jokes and jokes about sexism, applies to other stuff like racism, homophobia etc For example a "wife bad" boomer joke is making fun of the wife while the deep-fried gen z version is making fun of the boomers who are making fun of the wife

[@naolucillerandom5280]

@@penguingobrr41 jokeception

[@minafl1]

I am thoroughly impressed with your analysis of Gen Z humor. I am a Gen X with two Gen Z kids and I confirm that your generation's humor is not just unique, but also contains complex layers that show your generation's understanding of multiple nuances. This is not often encountered in Boomer generation, the generation that grew up with pretty clear contrasts of good-bad, right-wrong. Their humor seems far more two dimensional than Gen Z. It is important to note that there are exceptions, as there are many exceptions to Gen X generation. I'd like to think of our generation as the ones that planted the right seeds of questioning status quo for the generations that came after. You are completely right that Millenials have a certain level of bitterness, of being duped, while the Gen Z looks at it with sober acceptance of what is. There is hope and innocence, mixed in with somber awareness of just how messed up the world is. Yet even the awareness of somber reality has a level of humor to it which might seem insensitive, but is really a coping mechanism. I spoke with my children often about these exact same things that you mentioned, regarding their unique humor and outlook on life. You really summed it all up very well. In some ways I think of you guys as the Sponge Bob generation, with presence of joy and innocence, despite and because the world being as it is. There are a few other unique things I noticed about Gen Z humor: taking a joke to another level by skipping the obvious punchline and one upping it with the one beyond it. So, the person hearing it would have to fill in the part that wasn't said in order to get the punchline. Or combining two well known funny things into a joke on another level. I have also noticed things like using worn out stories that have become cliche to Gen Z, to create a joke that starts of seeming like a legitimate normal story, only to soon escalate into something absurd. So, people expect to hear a boring, well known story, then are caught in genuine delight when the story reveals itself to be the set up for the joke. It truly is on a whole new level and I am delightfully surprised and intrigued by my children's humor every day. I have great faith in your generation, despite seeming lost at times. Of course, it's confusing trying to function in the reality that is, knowing very well that you must fundamentally change it. It's like having one foot in what is and one in what you want it to be. But, you'll get there. I have no doubt. You are literally maneuvering existing in this reality while simultaneously destroying what doesn't serve and creating what serves better. And you are doing it with fantastic humor too 😁👏👏👏

[@ShinobiKuzuraki]

I just wanna say as a gen z that this was really cute to read and made me feel seen :) alot of gen Z in the UK typically dont have great connections with family or relatives and that combined with our world view creates this ironic disconnect of emotion and feelings. Im of course only speaking for those i know but having someone of your generation take the time to acknowledge, learn, accept and even enjoy our own is a rare sight i dont get to see very often!

[@vy6309]

As a gen z seeing that someone from the older generation trying to understand our humor means a lot to me, thank you❤️❤️❤️

[@an3_omx]

You’ve described this humour quite well my friend. Congration. You done it.

[@AgentFulgoreBasedDepartment]

i make the escalating story jokes quite often and i'm a millennial, so it depends on the type of humor the person uses. most of my humor is either ironic, meta-ironic, satirical, morbid, obscene, dad-joke level puns, or any combination of any + all of the above. i'm basically the mixed bag of Halloween candy when it comes to jokes + memes lol. this is most likely because when i was a kid, the internet (and technology during the 90s as a whole) was just starting out and computers were very limited in what they could do. cellphones didn't exist, let alone smartphones. so the humor i developed started out sincere, then evolved over time; gaining the morbid edge, irony and ending up on the absurdist + nihilistic side - while still bringing some of the literal old humor my boomer parents use. i'm sure other millennials would agree with me on the more mixed nature of the jokes we use and memes we create. this differentiates us from Gen Z who is much more static within the types of humor they use. for clarification purposes, i was born in 1987.

[@Gremlinne]

@@an3_omx I am so happy that I get this reference to the misspelled cake. Also the OP's comment is very touching to see, and I share the sentiment of the first reply :3

[@sarahp7748]

I think that Riverdale was actually Meta- ironic and it just went completely over our heads.

[@bethanyblonder]

god i hope this is true LMFAO

[@EliteNormie]

Yeah I honestly think the creators were trying to cash in on the absurdity so that more of those television critic KZbinrs bring more attention to it. Negative reception is still reception

[@rainbowzzzplayzzz]

i see the the world completely differently now. this also makes sense because they completely changed the original story from the comics. it was all to get people riled up.

[@haleyelizabeth5501]

THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN SAYING FOR YEARS SINCE IT CAME OUT AND NOBODY BELIEVES ME. this is why i like the show. no it's not technically a "good show" but i feel like that was the point because they were being meta-ironic. that's what makes it good. because it isn't good.

[@ketokeko]

if riverdale was just a big ironic show then it would became my favourite, but sometimes it feels like they're really being serious or at least in season 1

[@eges72]

I observe that more depressed and stressful people laugh at this type of humor harder than lesser ones

[@evelynbutler7026]

Ok but imagine how good the memes would be if the internet was around during the cold war

[@cvbattum]

Welcome to March 2022, where you no longer have to imagine!

[@altobonifacio8936]

Noggos in the cold war be like 🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶👍🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶

[@thechumbucket8986]

If among us was around during the cold war the world definitely would have ended

[@turmoilbreaker9301]

@@thechumbucket8986 when the east is sus

[@distortedideas9612]

@@cvbattum OH MY GOD LMAOOO

[@nyx8879]

I think a large amount of our humor comes from us having grown up in a generation where we can't really believe anything right away or take anyone/anything at face value. Thus that is funny because we recognise that in someways our reality is reflected in the humor itself.

[@TheStitchWitchPodcast]

I'm 24 but obsessed w learning about Gen Z's perspectives on things like this. partially because I live on the internet and that's just what it's like these days, but also b/c I'm a teacher and need to understand my students. It's weird, I somehow assumed that since I'm young and very vividly remember my MS/ HS days that it would be easy to relate, but even a few years of age gap can drastically change your perspective. If anything, I was probably more mature as a 15-18 y/o than I am now :')

[@GreenGoblinCoryintheHouse]

Aren't you a genZ too?

[@rikospostmodernlife]

@@GreenGoblinCoryintheHouse yeah, I'm 26 and some of the experts consider me gen Z, and that's with the earliest boundary at 94/95

[@user-us7py1cy2k]

@@rikospostmodernlife I don’t get it

[@rikospostmodernlife]

@@user-us7py1cy2k They young. They genZ

[@Gaming_Legend2]

I was more inteligent when i was 15-18 than i'm now, my brain is devolving 💀

[@Tt-qm2xg]

I'm a millennial, and I've been a youth worker for around 4 years now. I can say whole heartedly that I've never felt so out of touch than when the kids are joking (with me, at me, because of me in spite of me.... I don’t know - yeah yeah irony). Its actually refreshing and I'm so glad I'm getting older so I don’t have to keep up anymore. Its fucking exhausting, and you all do it so much better than us. But you'll never pry the step brothers quotes, gifs or emojis from my cold, dead millennial hands. 😂😂😂😅 Plus the knowledge and introspective you have is impressive. Just like this video, it makes me hopeful for the future. Every chance I get, when speaking to other millennials, gen x and boomers, I like to argue with them about zoomers. You lot are hilarious little sincere weirdos, and have such an amazing, free spirit, one I haven't seen since the 90s. Ignore the old farts, you'll all do fine. ✌️

[@evo2542]

Next gen will probably loop right back around to just "layer 0" sincerity, tired of the crazy random absurdism their predecessors, Gen Z, have defined themselves with. Either that, or it will go another layer deep, making fun of Gen Z humor.

[@RandomAmbles]

Why wait? Serious sincerity is the shit.

[@BD-yl5mh]

I think I’ve actually started seeing sniffs of that started to appear. There’s a bit of a movement of “you know what? I actually really like this thing. Who wants to talk about that?” I reckon there’s already an undercurrent of people really desperately wanting to communicate honestly without 15 layers of meta-ironic, pseudo analytical, partially detached, anti-capitalist, anarcho-pugilist, certified fresh baggage piled on top.

[@FresoVODs]

¿Por qué no los dos?

[@maddie67]

this is likely due to the law of diminishing marginal utility

[@satyakisil9711]

That's what whatifalthist said.

[@nicolle7661]

5:07 this reminds me of Araki (Jojo’s author). He sends mixed signals about a character called Mikitaka, at first it seems like he is just a weird guy with a weird sense of humour who jokes about being an alien, but he doesn’t show any clear signs of irony. Then his mother appears and explains that he’s always been delusional and that’s the reason why they transferred to another town. Also, since most characters in Jojo have supernatural powers (stand powa) it’s not clear if his powers are from his alien origins or if he’s a human and just got them like everyone else in the show. But then Mikitaka tells his friends that he brainwashed the woman with his alien powers so that she believes that she’s his mother and he can pretend that he’s a human. In the end, it is never explained what he actually is lol. Lmao Araki doing Gen Z humor in the 90s. What a legend.

[@oliSUNvia]

oh wow gotta read this now

[@nicolle7661]

@@oliSUNvia if you like manga/anime you should definitely! The only thing is that the character I described appears very later on and briefly. It’s a good show tho and also a meme mine lol Btw KZbin’s been recommending me your videos a lot lately, thanks for the good content :)

[@itsoracle]

@@oliSUNvia JoJo is great watch the anime

[@itsoracle]

The character he talks about doesn't appear until part 4 though

[@PrincessMuk]

I remember back in middle school, around 2015/2016, my friend pointed out that when we typed "lol" (or, "lel" as was popular for a bit but now looks VERY cringy) we never actually laughed. I feel like other generations will laugh at a joke they find funny, but Gen Z might just smile a little, or exhale through their nose, and move on. I mean, of course we can still laugh at things, and I find IRL banter and playfulness makes me laugh far more than memes do, but it's interesting that we've creating such a disingenuous, ironic, passive culture. My guess is it's influenced by our uncaring attitude and how we've been primed to just consume media endlessly. Tracking the journey from "LOL" to "lol" to "😂" to "lmao" to now "💀" shows to me a progressing culture of irony in enjoying humor. Part of it is viewing certain things as old, for example if someone were to type LOL in all caps like that I'd assume they were a gen xer at the youngest, but with each next step, that iteration can only last so long before it, too, gets old, and the ones before must take on different meanings. "lol" can still be used when you find something moderately funny, though I feel lmao may be a bit more common in that sense, but it is primarily used now to indicate a joking tone, or to soften the blow of a depressing message. (For example, "hey sorry i didnt respond earlier our cat went missing lol", which would certainly be a stressful and even traumatic event for the speaker, but is shown in a humorous light to make it appropriate for casual conversation. This might be indicative of gen z not feeling allowed to be sincere or to "trauma dump" even with close friends, while simultaneously being used to oversharing everything and therefore needing to make every sentence palatable and able to be glossed over, but I digress.) The crying laughing emoji is a step up, showing that not only does the joke make me laugh, but it has moved me to tears of joy from laughing so hard. While there was certainly a period this was reserved for only the funniest of jokes, I barely remember a time before this was being used alongside "lol", before slowly replacing it. It's no longer viewed as enough to literally laugh out loud at something, in part because "lol" no longer indicated that. Now, to show you found something funny, you had to use an extreme example, even though you were probably still just laughing under your breath at most. Similarly with "lmao - laughing my ass off", we have gone even a step further from simply crying laughing. Finally, we have the newest development. I've skipped over 🤣 because I feel like only old people use it lmao. While some emojis can be used ironically or to create tone in certain contexts, this marked the first major example of an emoji being regularly used to represent something entirely different from the original meaning. Now, it's no longer enough to laugh out loud. It's no longer enough to be crying laughing. Now, the joke is so funny, it's literally killed you. You've died from laughter. "I'm dead 💀" is how we say something is funny. "He's dead" used to be a way of saying someone wasn't at school that day when I was a kid! (Side note: definitely learned my lesson with that one after getting in trouble with a substitute teacher. Definitely did not realize an adult wouldn't understand that, oops.) I'm rarely on tiktok and despise twitter with a burning passion, but I still can't read the skull emoji without thinking it's a way to express comedy. Like, can you imagine? Someone actually using an EMOJI to express grief???? My own punctuation in that last sentence has reminded me of another aspect of gen z humor and internet linguistics, but, as this comment has already gotten very far out of hand, I'll just end things here lmao. The one thing I'll say in conclusion is actually a question: where do we go from here? What is the next step after "I'm dead" and a skull emoji? An angel emoji to represent moving on to the next life? That already has connotations that I can't see easily changing. Perhaps an even more abstract shooting star emoji or fireworks emoji, to represent exploding or your soul being expelled from your body or something else entirely! I'll be very interested to see what happens in the next few years. Perhaps we'll regress entirely and go back to the basics...

[@Best_goat_ever]

Haha long but good comment, I noticed too that when we use lol we don't really laugh.

[@sporperino]

🗿🗿🗿🗿

[@kwowka]

this is extremely accurate. what's more interesting is the contrast between different friend groups - the less aware and online still use 😂, whereas the more online use (: and lmao to represent the same concept.

[@mariaroth7520]

Dude lel is not cringyy lel is the perfect nuance between bruh lmao with the special vibe

[@PrincessMuk]

@@mariaroth7520 wait do people still use it??? I haven’t seen it used by anyone but the Dank Meme Pepe guys in middle school lmao

[@OfficialWorldChampion]

“Gen Z humor” is something that only really exists online, which is a huge drawback when compared to the type of humor that takes brain cells to create

[@Sevenseasick]

Just about your point that millennials avoid posting content that would make them seem strange or unusual, while Gen Z seem very comfortable doing this, part of that could also just be that most Gen Z aren't old enough to have corporate jobs that require keeping a very vanilla social media presence.

[@mondaysandtuesdays6842]

millenials also have memory before the internet contributed to raising people. they didn't carry the world in their pocket for their formative years

[@Eumanel12]

It's because it's accepted by others, and not because they don't care about it.

[@ginahazineh430]

But even then, a lot of corporations are now adopting “gen z” humor; look at duolingo or Ryanair’s official tiktok page for example. I think that even when gen Z gets old enough to have corporate jobs (because a lot of us are in our early twenties at this point), the idea of what is considered an “appropriate” media presence would have already changed from what would have been considered appropriate for millennials.

[@Fantalla]

couldnt you say that if EVERYONE has a social media profile this way then it wouldnt matter? Like to be fair, Ive worked for a lot of progressive companies that couldnt give two shits about your social media profiles because theyre aware that most of the time it doesnt reflect the actual person.

[@irishempire9811]

Born in 2005, so a Gen Z here. Can confirm random shit and loud noises is hilarious, but i have learned to accept that the world is a pretty shitty place and theres not much we can do about it.

[@Djgojo360]

ur user💪🏻

[@z_bennet4208]

yeah like doing “whatever i can do” is my motto. ive seen too many things to give a fuck about it 😀

[@wildcardjoey4776]

Not much we can do in the short term*

[@Lyonessi]

Naive take but then again you are only 17

[@steveisthecommissar4013]

@@Lyonessi is it not partly true though there is nothing we can really do about it in the short term most of us can’t vote nor make an impact on the road yet

[@katherinebell8176]

It’s utterly bizarre to see Jreg here but it’s really cool to see these kinds of topics being discussed outside of his channel. Subscribed

[@eoin8450]

He's very much my main source for talking about irony and gen z humour

[@alix6553]

jregjreg’s bizarre channel

[@primo4915]

@@alix6553 JreJre's Bizzare Channel

[@supporter6014]

Yeah I knew right, I’m thinking people are gonna go to his channel persuaded by his charming persona only to find out that uh oh, he discusses fascism and other sensitive topics (really they should’ve put a content warning for citing his channel as this video is pretty lighthearted)

[@supporter6014]

I know right*

[@cookiestyleguy5886]

As a member of Gen Z, one who is less in tune with its humor, I’d also like to point out an interesting thing I’ve noticed. It seems that with Gen Z being so enthralled by post-irony and meta-irony, not only is sincerity less prevalent, but so to is single layered Irony. I’m a very sarcastic person who in some degree enjoys irony of all forms. But when I make a simple sarcastic statement, I am often baffled by how many of my peers do not pick up on or understand such simple irony.

[@troll_486]

its because there is already too much irony in our jokes/memes that often we don't even recognize what is and isn't irony its like irony-meter went over the limit and its starting from the beginning again and again and we have no idea if its 105% ironic or just 5% as she said, the important part is the source of the joke, if you read your friend's joke, you will always get it right, because you know that person and what he means by that, but when you meet a random internet person, you lack context and you try to guess based on previous expieriences with the topic

[@SweeteaDove]

Yeah, there's so many instances where someone says something, and I can't tell if they're joking or genuinely upset or WHAT I've seen things like "can you recognize how someone's feeling by body language and facial expressions" And like- I know what they're SUPPOSED to look like, but we've developed the habit of saying things so deadpan and not expressing our intent outwardly that I just- I can't tell I do the same thing, because I love deadpan humor and it's gotten me in trouble because my dad doesn't understand it 😭

[@ss2gora0]

It's funny, gen z will grow out of all of this and realise how stupid they sound.

[@dashaa6174]

@@SweeteaDove literally! Everyone just says everything deadpan. My friend said Oh I want to die in the most unemotional way possible but somehow I knew she was joking. It's pretty weird

[@burstness]

Boomer humor: "I hate my wife" Millennial humor: "I hate my life" Gen Z humor: 🚁

[@_shadow_1]

Boomer humor: "here's the joke" Millennial humor: "I am the joke" Gen Z humor: "The joke itself is funny"

[@eges72]

1980s humor: "I hate my life" Gen Z humor: *kratos falling meme*

[@5391andrew]

Thats funniest shit i ever seen

[@3oddsocks47]

This is so fucking funny 💀

[@ianchrist8281]

ELIKOPTER ELIKOPTER

[@Dxntoo]

it's really this simple. Gen Z humor is just sensory overload memes to the MAX. We don't know how to react to such stimuli so we just laugh. It's basically BSODing our own brain.

[@randomnoob101flyhightweek]

and we love it

[@ianmacaig2696]

I think when looking at the roots of humor it's about subverting expectations. Since we've always had the Internet with it's storm of sensory experience, videos of just randomness act to subvert the expectations of information-rich and purposeful media with embedded manipulation. Which then also subverts expectations of time spent analyzing the media.. as looking for the intended meaning returns an echo of perceived meaning. This then is adopted to the context and usually becomes funny as an in-joke among other gen Z users, thus prompting the action to laugh and share the post

[@Kaandalini]

Human capacity to overcomplicate simple concepts is beyond me. I thoroughly enjoyed this analysis of gen z humor video tho

[@eggboy6926]

oh but nothing in this world is simple :D thats why its so fun to dig deep, because there just keeps being stuff to dig out

[@littlemonztergaming8665]

@dayjoyy We are learning about what perspective means :D You may complicate or simplify anything to your heart's content.

[@MagicCookieGaming]

​@isla ah yes, how dare all of those philosophers like Plato waste time overcomplicating things -_- Not comparing this video to Plato, but it is a form of modern day philosophy and examination, so it is a modern day version of their place in society.

[@danielmukhlis5709]

@isla congratulations, we have confirmed that you have never touched grass

[@Wveth]

@isla I think your perspective is very limiting. If we don't dig to try to understand the underlying nature of things, we will never figure out how best to exist with those things. There is a lot of value in the idea of simplifying, don't get me wrong. As someone with anxiety, I do it all the time. But there are times when simplifying is productive, and times when complicating is productive. It's more about knowing the best times to do one or the other.

[@superevilvillain]

I think my favourite kind of memes at the moment are those that take ideas so far from meme culture and recontextualise them into meme/social media formats as an absurdist contrast. For example, most often they are things from childhood (iconography, imagery & language from books, film/TV/games and 2000s culture), think "wizardposting" or funy monke memes. A meme I love is "party rockin with a mouse tonight", which is so childish, but has no discernable level of irony, it simply embraces the pureness. I also love when memes will use words that are far from intenet language, such as the [ "bro... the ramifications" "I forgot about the rammys bro" ] meme, or when Twitter replies will be full of people saying "bro's discombobulated💀💀" Often they will also emulate online culture of the past (if it's old enough), or the way children use social media. I feel like the humour comes out of repurposing that which is pure and childlike and devoid of irony, and embracing them whole heartedly, in a kind of freeing way. There's so many memes from my LOL!!! folder that i'd attach if it could.

[@zahubshahid7944]

You explained my favourite style of humour so eloquently.

[@wyrmghost]

Our humor is definitely just taking the term “commit to the bit” as far as we can or doing the complete opposite to mess with the expectations which in itself is the bit

[@al_2628]

Don’t think millennials were the first to make self deprecating jokes, laugh at existential crisis, and how un-meaningful life is. I think that crown belongs to generation-x. Remember Nirvana and the whole grunge era? They were pretty nihilistic and sarcastic back then too. Nationalistic pride, the birth of the modern day Karen, and the overall ideology of “taking things way to seriously” didn’t really hit until right after 9. 11. and ever since then, it’s taken a while for everyone to relax back to that pre - 9. 11. era. Seems like gen-z is us finally getting back to that point.

[@G625-s1c]

idk i feel like ppl who were teens in the 90’s are just older millennials?? millenial/gen x cusp i guess

[@pls-shanice]

Not everyone is American though

[@G625-s1c]

@@pls-shanice generational definitions are culturally specific and while increased globalism has created crossover in generational identifications, these generational terms are specific to american culture so that’s why we’re talking about it in the context of american culture and socio-political events

[@darklazerx7913]

In sweden gen X is referred to as "the ironic generation"

[@kirakira1212]

British humour has a lot of self depreciating jokes involved :))

[@notenoughpancakes6149]

A very interesting thing I have seen is how gen z humour changes with languages. As a multilingual I can say that in english, gen z humour is a lot more oversaturated (bass boost, super edited, etc), random and self-centered. Probably due to the first world, consumerist and capitalist society most english speakers live in and constantly being bombarded with information, news and marketing. In Spanish, gen z humour is a lot more critic, darker, even poetic and purposely made to look simple or bad quality. This probably due to most spanish speakers living in third world countries, with repressive and violent societies and being told to learn to live with what you get. The criticism is a critic to society as the dark and poetic side of it could even be a feeling of guilt. Since in south america, the oldest generations had to fight against dictatorships and oppression, newer generations now kinda feel guilty for not being happy with the world their parents fought for. The simplicity is also a way to show how the injustices of society are still present, just not as obvious as before. As well as it could be a way of just escaping the complicated world, searching for simplicity just a few seconds. AS WELL as it could be a criticism to how, compared to first world countries, products and pretty much everything imported to those countries is much simpler or from worse quality. A simpler way to say it, I think spanish gen z humour is a lot more random but coherent and depressed. French gen z humour is a lot simpler to explain. French people had always been taught to think of themselves as the center of the world. Their society is extremely patriotic and if you ever show any kind of interest for other cultures outside of Europe many people would mock you. So in result, french gen z humour is pretty simple, even could be seen as millennial humour, but in the core of it, it is very very dark and critic. Now japanese humour... oh boy. Japanese culture is *extremely* supremacists, strict and judgemental, and teaches people since they are children on how to behave, in result from that, japanese gen z humour is quite divided. 80% of japanese gen z humour is literally just innocent millennial humour and that's it. But the other 20%... boy... It is the most weird, critic, dark and terrifying humour I have ever seen (also the most clever one). Now I could go for ages about the japanese supremacists culture and dark humor, and all of the psychology behind it... But this is already really long and I highly doubt anyone will even read until here so yeah... But here is a list of other humours I have seen but I don't know those cultures enough to deeply analyze them: Russian: the darkest humour I have seen after japanese, really terrifying. Chinese: really critic and sad mostly about the fact of being seen by the world a bunch of Iphone making monkeys. S. Korean: Critic of their society being seen as perfect when it's really not. German: Sarcastically nazi as a criticism to everyone thinking they are still real nazi. ...And yeah that's it. Thanks for reading if you got here. Btw all I'm saying here is based on my personal opinions and observations. I could be wrong about many things but this has been my experience with different kinds of gen z humor. Also, not all gen z humor is the same. Here I'm only describing the kind of gen z humor I've been more exposed to in each language. --------------------------------------------------------- *EDIT (Since y'all seemed interested by the japanese gen z culture):* Going further into japanese society. Japan is run by what is called a collectivist society, this mean a society where everyone does their share and everyone is seemed equal. This all sounds very cool except for the part where because of this, standing out is rejected and frowned upon. No one can be different, no one can dream of greatness, everyone has to live the same humble and routinely life. To the japanese eye, uniqueness is frightening. This collectivist society model also has made of Japan extremely exigent towards it's youth. Even since primary school, japanese kids go through a much harder education than the average kid, and all of this only to prepare them to for the average office job that will only exploit then even more. Japan has the highest suicide rate in the world which lead to death and depression being accepted and engraved into japanese society. On top of this, when referring to "japanese gen z", I'm only talking about a very small percentage of the japanese people, since Japan is one of the few counties where the elderly make for the largest part of the population. This makes it almost impossible for the youth to try and make a change into the society, which makes a lot of people feel repressed and frustrated. All of this and much more is what makes of japanese gen z humour what it is... It usually is a multilayered thing: At a first glance, it just seems stupid and nonessential, not even being funny. But going deeper, it's a glance at how desperate and sad much of the youth is. It usually portrays every day scenarios for the average japanese teen, but with a small twist of randomness that brings everything into chaos. This could be seen as a way to demonstrate and critic how monotonous but fragile the japanese reality is. It is also very normal for japanese humour to revolve around anything usually seemed as "tabu". It sarcastically makes fun of things like suicide or depression only to show how fucked up it actually is that it now became so accepted and disregarded. Or how absurd the expectations for the average japanese person are, without caring for anyone's metal health. And all of this is a creation of the internet, which is used by people all over the world as a safe space and escape from the reality. But also the only place where this kind of humor could exist, since anything similar in the real world would probably be frowned upon and even frightening and vulgar. ... Anyways. There is still really sooooo much to say about this entire thing... But imma stop right here. If you got all the way here, thanks a lot for reading whatever even was that. There are probably people who know more about all of this and could explain it better. English isn't my main language either but hopefully it wasn't that bad. So anyone, feel free to correct me or add anything in the comments I guess.

[@SN-vn6wb]

Good points. Thanks for sharing!

[@catnip202xch.]

Hi Chinese ish person here who has lived in China for over 10 years and is a zoomer and well versed in chi’s new meme culture, Chinese zoomer meme culture is highly nuisanced as the government(thanks ccp) is dishing out internet censorship just how KZbin dishes our nonskippable ads to videos. So to circumvent this, zoomer humor has an extra layer of irony/complexity thanks to the Chinese language being highly nuisanced. For example, the word for bite in chinese is 咬, which is a combination of the characters 口 and 交. 口交means blow job in Chinese. And the word 咬 is the combination of those 2 characters. And so the Chinese word for bite was “repurposed” kinda in zoomer meme culture to be a synonym for blowjob. There are countless examples of this being the case. I should also mention that due to the highly connective thing we call internet, Chinese zoomer meme culture has landed more in the side of extremely patriotic, extremely anarchistic, and mix of the both, desperate cry’s for help that zoomer know that they will have to bear the burden of inevitable unseen economic burden in the future, and scaring ourselves shitless that we might not be able to change anything and the only way we MIGHT change things is to be on the same page and fuck up the government. Not to mention all the nihilistic memes we produce depriving the extremely fucked up education system rhat Chinese students have to go through…..

[@Power_Verse_]

I would love to see examples. This was very eye opening!

[@deborahsimatupang2719]

This is so so so interesting. If you made a video/article about this I would definitely see it!

[@umaimasyed7755]

Social points +1000

[@Charles-472]

Gen Z humor's ability to laugh at the darkness exposes a fundamental hope for the future that the generation holds. No matter how bad the world becomes, Gen Z isn't convinced it can't be undone.

[@chatterbones5614]

As a zoomer myself, I really do frequently find myself fearing expressing any form of sincerity, especially online. It's as if there's no way to exist peacefully without steeping everything I say or do in an intense layer of irony. It all needs to be a joke, which is a little exhausting.

[@jacob.da.snakob]

Yeah I feel like for me being meta is a defense mechanisms. I think the overabundance of anonymous judging eyes on the internet gave gen-z anxiety and being meta-ironic is a way to cope with the anxiety. People are less likely to judge me either way if they dont know if im joking about the topic or being sincere about it.

[@noodliealoon2580]

RIGHT?? I feel like I've lost the ability to be genuinely sincere. And somehow when I am being sincere, it feels dumb or insincere??? No idea why, but it is tiring and I often hate how completey steeped in irony my whole persona has become.

[@NP1066]

I think the anonymity and feebleness of the internet has something to do with it.

[@usualdosage7287]

Maybe online and maybe it's just me but I have had many sincere deep conversations with people irl

[@joelcoll4034]

My gen Z group of friends we always do gen z humor while talking, the other day I asked my friend a political opinion completely seriously, and saying it wasn't a joke, just an actual question and he wasn't able to answer it without joking 💀

[@NemoK]

This video is incredibly well-written. You explain this whole humour dynamic very well.

[@ThorsShadow]

As a millennial born in 1992, I sometimes scratch my head when confronted with gen z humor. But the nihilism and hopelessness are both things I can totally get behind lol. As well as the post/meta irony. Also, totally lost it at "look at this graph".

[@cookie856]

Take the advice on a 98 gen z: when you don't understand a joke, just shrug and go with the flow.

[@BardovBacchus]

I'm a history geek, so your comment about, "Gen Z weren't the first generation to make self deprecating humor. Millennials were!" This makes me think of The Lost Generation after World War One, and I chuckle in Gen X. Modernity started about 200 years ago, but it does change with every new generation, because technology. I love young folks. The kids are alright

[@aidenlashbrook6089]

Gen Z humor is just one big inside joke for the people who grew up with the internet

[@jarbincks6715]

this is the best way to describe it. makes me feel all warm and fuzzy too for some reason

[@ssanhayeob]

in addition to what you're talking about in 1:48, this 'line' is even more difficult to establish in some places in the world, since one of the main characteristics about gen-z is the influence of exposure to internet from a very young age. for example, here in latin america, the 2000-2005 kids didn't have cellphones/unsupervised access to the internet until they were around 14-16 years old, except if their background was a little more rich. so we often feel a little disconnected from what an american gen-z kid experiences, and we often relate more to "90' kid's stuff". so, between the years 97' to, say, 02', we are this weird mixture between millennial and gen-z

[@TTTups]

yeah it was kinda similar in poland but we got the phones and stuff a bit earlier i guess. i'm a 02 kid and didn't have acces to internet until i was like 7 yo. millenial type of humor is a bit stronger here i guess

[@johnindigo5477]

I am an american but you pretty much described most of the kids I grew up with. Born 02 I grew up with used VHS and cable being something I had to go to the neighbors for. I watched basic tv which around 09 was peak millenial exposure. Community was my favorite. I only used the internet a handful of times before I was 11. I feel like everything, gen z culture is based on what white middle class people are interested in. And this was the 2000s so representation as a concept was no where near mainstream.

[@nataliei.4114]

@@johnindigo5477 I always felt like the whole concept of generations in general was very Westernized (specifically Americanized). I wish more people would talk about it.

[@chirimoyatriste6395]

This! I was born after 2000 yet relate a lot to "90's kids things" bc I clearly remember a childhood were Iplayed music on cassette tapes, had one of those huge 90's TVs as well as those chunky white computers in the house and spent most of my time playing outside with friends until videogames took over around 2012ish and we started meeting up to play that way instead, because technology always takes longer to arrive to latam

[@shushunk00]

same goes for any global south countries access to technology is majorly controlled, funneled by the global north countries so availability and cost of computer,internet,games,etc depends on the global north ,there will always be 2 to 5 years gaps betn them

[@hanarotinsulu1539]

As a millennial, I appreciate this, but I do remember this absurdist humor being very prevalent when I was a child, back when youth culture was dominated by Gen X. As for meme culture (as has been pointed out before) and all the lightheartedness in shitty situations (which is a feature in every generation of every culture, really)... Well, I can see how millennial humor has gotten to a point where it's associated with depression, though you may find it hard to believe, we approached humor with the same reckless abandon kids have today. This chaotic energy was on Tumblr, 4chan, 9gag, and everywhere else. The difference is... we've mellowed out with age. As will Gen Z. Humor and the desire to make a change just recycles itself, really. Back then we millennials also thought we were so avant-garde and groundbreaking lol. Now, I don't deny that Gen Z will have its distinct cultural impact (of which the generations after will also cite in analysis videos on how interesting their own current humor is), but it's a bit too early to determine it right now.

[@thoticcusprime9309]

gen z are just dumb sheep copying trends and trying to be unique while being posers that arent self aware

[@ValoriYT]

@@thoticcusprime9309 that's a silly funny haha moment amongus

[@alaskabane5340]

@@thoticcusprime9309 wow well some people really hate on whole generations based on the absurd reasons.

[@erichuang7524]

I think there’s also an element of “hey fuck millennials and everyone else, we’re doing our own thing” in Gen Z humor. We joke about things millennials and other older people used to somewhat avoid, and even when they acknowledged them they disdained and satirized the proponents- like communism/anti-US memes (I.e. Ronald Reagan death beatdrop), “kissing the homies goodnight” sus jokes, old people dressing crip (I.e. William Dripfoe), and even anti-simp jokes (because I think the idea of going out of your way to get a partner was seen by older generations as a good, admirable thing even if it was harmful to the pursuer). We now jokingly accept those subjects in a way that’s semi-ironic and semi-sincere… sincere in the sense that we don’t actually have the same aversion to those things that past generations had. Honestly, I think we’re *more* sincere and tolerant of different perspectives than them, and our humor is a way of expressing that. We have more of a sense of camaraderie in our humor, and more of an unpretentious sense of allowing everybody to be in on the joke. It’s not as acidically sarcastic as “I hate my life” millennials

[@MovieGuy666]

@@erichuang7524 your not doing your own thing, everything you can do has been done over and over.

[@GOTHPUNKLESBIAN]

I'm honestly surprised I haven't seen comparisons drawn to the Dadaist art movement of the 1910s-20s and Gen Z humor, but maybe it's just not as well known as I think. Dada, or Dadaism, was an art movement in the mid 1910s to the mid 1920s in reaction to WWI, where artists rejected the logic and reason of capitalist society in favor of insanity, nonsense, and anti-capitalist rhetoric. Sounds similar, no? Dadaists believed that the logic of capitalism is what led people to war, and therefore they opposed it. In fact, artist George Grosz said his Dadaist art was a protest "against this world's mutual destruction." Dada was described as "anti-art" as it directly opposed capitalist society and it's aesthetics, and so it ignores any traditional art principles. Dadaism was a global movement, as well. People all over the world began to make absurdist, nonsensical anti-art projects in protest of capitalism and the war machine. Is it the same as gen z humor? No, gen z humor just has a lot of echoes of Dadaism. I'd like to think that the leftist dadaists would be proud of gen z. Maybe dadaism and gen z humor are testaments to humanity's indomitable will in the face of stark adversity, showing that no matter what, when we think the world has gone insane, we can be crazier. And if we can be crazier than the world itself, maybe we can fix what ails the world, too.

[@Lmaoh5150]

Great vid There’s a Japanese film from 1977 called Hausu (House), directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, which I think can almost be considered proto-gen z humor. At least aesthetically and it’s origin from reaction to cultural trauma are similar. The film is about school girls visiting one of their aunts in her old spooky house for a summer trip. Once at the house each are picked off one by one. Visually, Obayashi’s work is nearly identical to the humor of gen z. Speeding up or disorienting the footage, dramatic editing, zany drawn on effects, genre elements used without context to one another, and general absurdity. The absurdity is really where the film is similar. Many of Obayashi films deal with the trauma dealt by the atomic bombings, of which Obayashi lived through as a kid. The films react to this absurdity with comparable absurdity. There’s a joke in Hausu that the aunts cat looks like a poofy mushroom cloud-the film directly edits to the explosion of an atomic bomb-before going back to the girls on their “cute summer vacation”. The film doesn’t reach the same levels of irony as today, but for those interested in this sort of cultural reaction and use of irony it’s a great source. Plus, the film is just amazing!

[@thoticcusprime9309]

I doubt its amazing. Gen z humor is just stupidity

[@Lmaoh5150]

@@thoticcusprime9309 You probably won’t like it. Don’t watch it

[@thoticcusprime9309]

@@Lmaoh5150 Dont care, and i watch what I want, especially when finding info about my enemies[people like you]

[@willbow1304]

@@thoticcusprime9309 wow, what a nice person we have here! I don't even know how you were not nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize... Seriously, grow up. Being edgy is for the 14 year olds that watch shonen animes and such. So, shush, for the sake of everyone. Nothing good to add? Then don't say a bloody thing. Cheers

[@Lmaoh5150]

@@thoticcusprime9309 You probably won't like it. You wouldn't be cool if you did

[@rayres1074]

You know we've peaked when Jreg is considered a credible source. That on itself is part of the Gen Z Humor insanity.

[@HelderGriff]

Lmaoooo

[@matthewmopeloa9815]

Me as gen z: "their being dramatic" Also me: *laughs at Dear Liberals meme*💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

[@primo4915]

forgor 💀

[@cat9424]

the android notification sound still gets me every time💀

[@zulthyr1852]

Dear liberals, Why did you like this comment?

[@EakiTurtle]

@@zulthyr1852 Dear conservative (because those are the only two types of people in this world) I liked your comment because I have nothing better to do with my life Sinceierely, liberals

[@zulthyr1852]

@@EakiTurtle lmao

[@stankydummy5846]

filthyfrank/joji was a big thing that shaped my humor as a late 2003 girl