“I’ve been living alone this entire time, so I spent more time on my phone and more time connecting with others, and that included memes,” Perraud says. Perraud and her friends aren’t the only ones. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, many millennials and Generation Z members like Perraud, who is on the cusp between these two groups, formed online communities to share COVID-19 memes. (According to the Pew Research Center, Gen Z includes people born between 1997 and 2012, and millennials include people born between 1981 and 1996). One example is the popular Facebook group Zoom Memes for Self Quaranteens, which was formed by college students taking online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person classes weren’t an option.
Why COVID-19 Memes Helped People Cope During the Height of the Pandemic
COVID-19 meme sharing at the very least gave people something to do during the pandemic when workplaces, restaurants, bars, gyms, and other public places had shut their doors to the public. But new research suggests that memes may have played a role in keeping people sane, too. A study published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media in 2021 suggests that COVID-19 memes, to a certain extent, may have supported personal efforts to cope with COVID-19-related stress. The study included 748 people. Researchers found that participants who looked at memes with COVID-related captions had stronger information processing and decreased levels of COVID-related stress than those who looked at meme captions that were unrelated to COVID-19. And among the study participants, stronger information processing was tied to an increased ability to cope. Viewing memes was also associated with higher levels of self-reported humor and increased positive feelings compared with non-meme content on social media. RELATED: Boxed In: COVID-19 and Your Mental Health
What’s Therapeutic About Memes?
What is it about memes that helps people feel better throughout the pandemic? “I think it’s just a way for us to be creative and to connect with other people by sharing our experience, and then knowing we’re not alone by seeing ‘Okay, other people are struggling with this during the pandemic,” says Jessica Myrick, PhD, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of communications at Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania. The popularity of COVID-19 memes has also likely helped normalize the mental health struggles many have faced throughout the pandemic. Perraud says she’s able to be more open about her mental health online than she is at her job in career services at a major Canadian university. “I can openly say ‘I’m depressed all the time,’ but then I forget sometimes when I talk to people in my life that not everyone jokes about that or is depressed,” says Perraud. The mental health impact of COVID-19 memes could explain in part why online meme-sharing forums are so popular, according to Dr. Myrick. When people find something that makes them feel good, they tend to be more motivated to seek out a community of people with the same interest. “One of the main purposes of experiencing positive emotions is to build social capital, to motivate us to want to connect to other people and to be in groups of people, so positive emotions are really important for building a community. That’s how we connect with each other,” says Myrick.
Beyond the Pandemic: Memes and Mental Health Conditions
Using memes to cope with difficult emotions like stress — and even mental health conditions like depression and anxiety — is not unique to the pandemic. For example, Perraud, who lives with depression, has found memes help her deal with the stress of being an undergraduate student. One popular source of such memes is the account @mytherapistsays on Instagram, which has nearly seven million followers. In the comment section of each post, users engage with memes about needing therapy, having frequent emotional breakdowns, or mental health issues like seasonal depression. Research suggests certain kinds of memes like these may be helpful for those with mental health conditions like depression or anxiety. A study published in January 2020 in Scientific Reports found that, compared with people without depression, those who have depression are more likely to have a positive response to negatively oriented memes, or memes with a humorous take on a negative situation or experience. According to the researchers, this was likely due to perceived peer support from others with similar symptoms. “Anxious and depressed people often turn to social media as a means of social communication and adaptation to an uncertain situation, a notion which has been evidenced in the context of the current pandemic,” says Umair Akram, PhD, the corresponding author of the study and a lecturer in psychology at Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom.
More Than Entertainment: Memes Can Help People With Mental Health Issues Come Forward
While the main purpose of memes is usually to make people laugh, memes can also help people be more open with others around them about the fact that they may be struggling with their mental health. Brooke Knisley, a 31-year-old comedy writer in New York City who lives with a traumatic brain injury, finds that memes — whether focused on COVID-19 or another serious issue like mental health — can be good icebreakers. “It’s a good coping mechanism, and making jokes and memes about these weighty topics are a means of opening up conversations,” Knisley says. Sharing a meme can be easier for some people than telling family members or friends outright about mental health struggles, says Natalie Pennington, PhD, an assistant professor of communication studies at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. “Increasingly, memes and technology have facilitated more open discussion, so it might be easier for someone to share a joke to sort of say, ‘Hey, this is something that affects me, too,’” says Dr. Pennington. RELATED: 6 Ways You Can Help a Loved One With Depression
Is There a Downside to Memes?
Memes, while helpful, aren’t the only answer, Pennington says. For instance, memes shouldn’t be a Band-Aid solution for a lack of affordable mental health care. “You also have lots of people who can’t get access to mental health treatment, can’t go to therapy, don’t have people to talk to offline,” says Pennington. “[While] memes are great to connect community, [they] don’t help solve someone’s problem in and of themselves.” And memes have drawbacks. Some people have turned to memes to spread misinformation on the internet, especially related to the COVID-19 vaccine. Myrick cautions people to be actively aware when engaging with COVID-19 memes and evaluate whether any health information they contain is accurate. For example, memes that suggest vaccines cause autism are false and harmful to the autistic community. “I think it’s really important that we think about why we’re sharing content, why we’re looking at content, why we’re drawn to content, and be aware of our emotional states around different content, so we make sure we don’t share things perhaps that aren’t necessarily true,” says Myrick. While Knisley is a fan and creator of memes, she also has concerns about memes containing inaccurate information or even triggering people with mental health concerns. Knisley emphasizes that people have personal responsibility for the memes they create and share. “I think people should take a moment to assess before they put a joke out into the world, what is the overall harm of this [joke],” Knisley says.
Beyond Memes: What’s Next if You Need Help?
While memes may help people find brief relief from stress and other negative emotions, they’re not a replacement for therapy or other forms of mental health support. If you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, it’s wise to seek professional help. Your options can include:
Sliding-scale therapy Some mental health professionals offer sliding-scale fees for therapy services based on a person’s income, which can help make therapy more accessible and affordable.Online therapy Virtual therapy apps such as Talkspace and BetterHelp often cost less and involve more flexible scheduling options than traditional, in-person therapy.In-person or virtual support groups Organizations like the Anxiety and Depression Association of America offer support group listings.
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