You have less than one hundred friends on Facebook. You learned about Charlie Bit My Finger, LOLcats and “RickRolling” many years too late. What does that say about you?
In high school, perhaps, you were a loser, a geek, or some version thereof. Perhaps, you were neither un-cool nor cool, hanging out in comfortable obscurity. Once you graduated from that four-year limbo of awkward teenage physicalities, over-emphasized athletics, and hyped-up proms, you thought you could evade the popularity contests forevermore.
But, alas, there is reason for continued and even heightened alarm: the Internet appears to be yet another realm wherein your degree of coolness can be put on public display for the viewing schadenfreude of your friends, family, and absolute strangers.
I came to terms with my dearth of Internet sangfroid when I saw a post on the New Yorker’s blog, the “Book Bench” about a slang aficionado’s discovery of the term, “RickRolling.” RickRolling is an innocuous prank in which you send your victim a video of Rick Astley’s 1987 #1 hit, “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Prior to reading the blog post, I possessed not the slightest clue that there was widespread appreciation for Mr. Astley, an appreciation that I only derived from watching a VH1 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders program as an 80s-adoring kid stuck at home in the summertime. My tardy discovery made me feel like I had missed out on part of the Zeitgeist. Aloof. Abandoned to the dankness of my Loserdom.
Is there a way to save myself from my uncoolness? How do I become Internet-savvy? KnowYourMeme, a “website dedicated to documenting Internet phenomena: viral videos, image macros, catchphrases, web celebs and more,” is helping to cut the fetters of the ignorance of people such as myself. The site possesses a team of “Internet Scientists” who set out to investigate popular trends on the web. Curious individuals can watch episodes documenting the scientists’ explorations, including investigative pieces about Leeroy Jenkins, Antoine Dodson/Bed Intruder, and the “Double Rainbow-induced rapture” of “rainbow hype man,” Paul Vasquez. The scientists answer crucial questions as to why we find certain memes to be so entertaining, e.g., why do we care about double rainbows, a phenomenon, “as beautiful as it may be” that “might not be all that phenomenal”?
KnowYourMeme acknowledged the demand for clues into Web trendiness and tapped in. But the site may be more valuable than simply assisting surfers in getting in touch with the latest fads. The “Internet Scientists” in the investigative episodes ask questions in order to understand which memes we find so appealing and why, thereby tapping not only into our sense of transitory coolness but, more crucially, into our evolving sense of comedy and our particular interests in the 21st century. Being Internet-savvy, then, is not only about being cool, but about being in touch with the cultural milieu, about understanding how millions of people around the world can connect through a universal appreciation of a photograph of a very peeved-looking cat squished inside a trash bin. RickRolling a friend not only shows him you care by deeming him worthy of pranking, but further, it helps him to stay connected to a greater group of people, to invite him into the intimacy of a global culture. In a world in which technologies such as texting and email facilitate emotional distance, it can be extremely comforting to engage in the shared laughter induced by one 80s one-hit-wonder.
Start cultivating the global culture now.
