Online memes help reduce stress of virus, study finds

INTERNET memes – a funny picture with a witty quip as a caption – have become the entertainment currency of the internet but researchers have now found that the humorous medium has also helped alleviate anxiety brought on by Covid-19.

Memes including the “success kid” from 2008 and “side-eying Chloe” from 2013 were among 12 well-known examples shown to 784 study participants.

Scientists first measured how stressed participants felt via a questionnaire. Then, after viewing the memes they were asked about their levels of anxiety and positive emotions such as calmness, relaxation and cheer, and how much it caused them to think

‘People who viewed memes with captions focused on Covid reported lower levels of Covid-related stress’

about other information they knew about Covid.

All saw three images, but some were shown normal pictures, some noncovid memes, and others the same meme but with a Covid-related caption.

For example, the Covid version of the “success kid” meme, featuring a boy clenching his fist in a victorious manner, had the wording: “Stayed home, saved lives.” The non-covid version had the caption: “Draws a picture of a spaceship, gets it on the fridge.”

“Our data demonstrated that people who viewed memes with captions focused on Covid-19 actually reported lower levels of Covid-19-related stress than did those who saw a non-covid-19 caption,” according to the research paper, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media.

“This finding is consistent with the idea that engaging memes can offer useful perspective, comfort, and validation for one’s own experience, all of which can be psychologically beneficial.”