Social Net-Laughing

            In today’s society, the Internet has become a fundamental part of everyday life. People shop, talk, explore, video-chat, and even date on the Internet. It is not unexpected then that the way humor is viewed today has also changed. YouTube videos, funny Facebook pages, parody Twitter accounts, and other social media sites offer numerous ways for people to view humor. One site in particular has recently taken my interest as a form of entertainment. That site is Tumblr. For those of you who do not know, Tumblr is defined as “a blogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumblr). Even though Tumblr has been around since 2007, I had never had much interest in it until I observed a friend laughing over a post on a Tumblr page. Since then, Tumblr has become an essential part of my daily “study breaks”. I have found some universal qualities that I believe are what make Tumblr pages so entertaining and humorous. 

            The first thing is that they are relatable. On the Tumblr, THEYCALLMEFUNKYFROG, the person who controls the blog is an anonymous TCU student. Because of this, TCU students can easily empathize with many of his/her posts. For example, one of the posts I found features a caption that reads, “When I’m Studying and Can’t Go Out”.  Below this title is a motion clip from The Little Mermaid of Ariel mouthing “I wanna be where the people are”. This is funny to those viewing it because many college students can relate to those nights when going out with friends is practically impossible due to having a test or quiz the next day. 

            Another reason why I think Tumblr accounts are so hilarious is because most of the time they show scenes or clips from popular TV shows, movies, etc that are themselves funny. Clips like Friends, Modern Family, Bridemaids, Dance Moms, How I Met Your Mother, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and Mean Girls are frequently quoted on Tumblr blogs to help illustrate some point that the blogger wishes to address. For example, one blog post (also from THEYCALLMEFUNKYFROG) was titled “Sororities During Rush…”. Below the title was a classic scene from Mean Girls with Karen Smith saying “On Wednesdays we wear pink”. This post parodies how sororities can be overly unifying and somewhat obsessed with the concept of sisterhood. 

           The final reason why I think Tumblr pages are fun and sometimes plain addicting to look at is because a lot of them over exaggerate certain situations. For example, on the Tumblr, “Procrastionismymiddlename”, (which is also controlled by a TCU student) there is a post with a caption that reads “When I Haven’t Been to the Gym in a while…”. Below the caption is a clip from Monsters Inc. with Mike Wazowski doing uncontrollable flips on a treadmill. This is funny because it focuses on a cognitive shift. Due to the title, we expect to see a person exhausted or having trouble working out. Instead, however, we see a scene with a monster practically getting beat up by a treadmill because he is so out of shape. There are tons of Tumblr pages out there and my suggestion to all of you reading is to explore some and find the ones that make you laugh!