50 Truthful Memes About What It’s Like To Have A Dog

Few things are as enjoyable as scrolling through funny animal memes. And now, scientists are also saying that it's a pretty good use of your mobile data.

Earlier this year, there was a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research. In it, researchers compared the sharing of memes to an activity that penguins do called pebbling. "Pebbling is a behavior practiced by Gentoo penguins who present pebbles to desired mates as tokens of affection," Ghalia Shamayleh, the head researcher involved in the study, told BBC Science Focus.

"Our research observes a similar behavior in humans interacting on social media."

According to Shamayleh, the pictures, reels, and posts we share online act as "the pebble to our penguin equivalent. We share them with our loved ones as a token of affection, to reinforce our relationships."

And animal content makes particularly good "pebbles."

Focusing on pet-based social media accounts similar to this Facebook page we're featuring, the study found that content creators "imbue their love, joy and amusement into their social media posts".

In the real world, animals bring people together as we "aww" and fawn over them. But online, the study discovered, this effect only grows stronger.

At first, you might think that would imply sharing an animal picture with someone is a sign you don’t know them well enough to send something more personal. However, the researchers found that people actually put a lot of thought into it.

The people they observed used images and videos to draw on shared experiences when sending them to loved ones, recalling and reaffirming the things they went through together.

For example, someone might send their friend a reel of two baby pandas struggling to stand up with a note saying, "You and me at our first yoga class."

By choosing posts that reflected the receiver's personal tastes – such as sending them videos of their favourite dog breed – we also highlight our deeper personal knowledge of their interests.

"By sharing animal content with the added reference to the sender's relationship, people digitally pebble their loved ones as though to say 'This made me think of you, of our relationship,'" said Shamayleh.

A survey of 2,000 dog owners found that pups are so highly regarded, that a majority think of their dog as their child (84%).

Because of this, there were two times more respondents who think of their dog before anyone else after a stressful day — even more than their partner (41% vs. 19%).

Three in four dog owners even think their canine is the "main character" of their family (76%), the study revealed.

So the next time you see a pup do something goofy or dramatic, just remember — they're not acting out, they're simply embracing their star role.