It’s no secret that everyone needs a little pick-me-up now and then. Whether you’re feeling stressed out, exhausted, or straight-up unmotivated, it’s easy to get caught up in our everyday burdens. Luckily, sometimes all it takes to step out of that zone is to glance at something sweet or chucklesome.
If you think it’s time for some entertaining memes, we’ve got you covered. Take a look at Humans of Tumblr, an Instagram account documenting some of the best content from the site and sharing it with more than 32.9K of their followers. The creators of this page share humorous and wholesome pictures to show you that it’s not all bad.
Bored Panda has collected some of their best posts that reveal how a few funny images can help you cope with the stresses of life. So scroll down, get ready to smile, and upvote the pics you enjoyed the most!
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The Humans of Tumblr website was launched in 2013 and since then, it has been posting memes and interactions from the site for people to enjoy. The creators of this project are very clear about their aims: “Our mission is to help people laugh, find entertainment from our content, and … take the time to relate to the fun and stressful situations we all go through in life.”
Needless to say, Tumblr is a perfect site to witness some of the most entertaining memes, back and forth exchanges, and generally wholesome pictures that can brighten your day. Usually, when you stumble upon an interesting thread, you don’t know where it’s going and don’t expect things to take a surprising twist. Yet, it happens quite often.
That’s why this site is appreciated by many—such surprises are what’s bringing humor and relief into our daily lives, and a lot of people think that it’s worth their time.
Speaking of jokes and memes, it seems that looking at a couple of funny images a day can improve your mood and general wellbeing. A study published in the Psychology of Popular Media journal revealed that memes helped people better cope with the everyday stresses of life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers with Pennsylvania State University and the University of California Santa Barbara found that “viewing memes generated higher levels of positive emotions, which were positively related to COVID-19 coping efficacy.”
Researchers surveyed 748 people online to study whether viewing different comical photos influences emotions, anxiety, information processing, and the way they’re coping with the pandemic stress. The participants looked at a variety of memes and were asked to rate the cuteness, humor, their emotional response, and to report if these jokes made them think about COVID-19.
Jessica Myrick, associate professor at Pennsylvania State University and the lead author of this study, is researching the psychology of how media messages can affect us. “As the pandemic dragged on, I got more and more interested in how people were using social media—and memes featuring cute and funny pics, in particular—as a way to think and communicate with others about life during a global pandemic,” she wrote.
The professor partnered up with a few colleagues and went through hundreds of real memes they found floating around social media. “We developed two pools of memes using the same images: One set had captions about COVID-19 and another set had captions unrelated to COVID-19.”
Then they asked the participants to look at the images: “One group saw the COVID-19 memes, while a second group saw the memes not about COVID-19. A third group saw image-free plain text that summarized the general idea of the memes, but was not in the least bit funny.”
After that, people had to answer questions about how they felt at that particular moment. “People who viewed just three memes rated themselves … as calmer, more content and more amused compared with people who didn’t see the memes,” the author of the study explained. “For instance, people who saw memes scored, on average, a 4.71 on our positive emotions scale, compared with an average of 3.85 for those who did not see a meme.”
So the research revealed that viewing comical images on social media gave a quick boost of positive emotions. However, the topic of the memes mattered. Those who saw COVID-19 related memes “rated themselves as less stressed about life during a global pandemic” and “reported thinking more deeply about the memes and their meaning.”
“More information processing was related to more confidence in their abilities to handle pandemic-related stress,” Myrick explained. “It’s possible that exerting more effort thinking about the topic could lead to mentally rehearsing ways to cope with the related stress, instead of avoiding it entirely.”
It seems that spending time on the internet or scrolling through your social media feeds is not always a waste of time as so many people think. It all depends on the content you’re watching and consuming. So take a break, look through what the Humans of Tumblr has to offer, and tackle your everyday stress with laughter.
C'mon Tumblr! Leaf them alone already. Just sit back at let the well... leaves fall where they may.
I hate how mamy useless things they teach kids in school when they leave out some very important ones. Like basic healthcare (antibiotics, some diseases, menstruation etc) (sex is always about condoms and stds not diseases or what is normal for a woman). Or informatics, which are crucial nowadays to do any job. We learned what Plato and Aristoteles tought thousands of years ago but never how to use basic excel.... Dont get me wrong, plato is interesting and I enjoyed it but its useless. Or things like the structure of vegetable tissues and types of rocks, which again is very interesting but usesless.
All these 'useless' thing teach you to think critically, have a basic understanding of the world, find out what you enjoy (so you can learn more, or make it your job), do research, etc. They ARE important. Because you were taught how cells behave, what DNA is, what a virus is, etc. you can understand the basics of what scientists tell you about corona and vaccins. You can see what missing that education does... anti-vaxxers simply don't understand the 'useless' basics.
Load More Replies...I don't need to know any of those things - I'm Norwegian. The government does my taxes for me, we don't have credit scores and health care is free.
Even if you have your own business or are self employed, the government does all your taxes for you? So I buy something for my business in Norway, I can't claim it back at tac time because how does the government have my receipt??
Load More Replies...They taught you how to read the instructions on the form and follow the steps to perform very basic mathematics to do your taxes. Just because you didn't pay attention, doesn't mean they didn't teach it to you.
Our junior college used to hold awesome affordable practical classes for anyone to attend. How to use a chainsaw or Practical applications for superglue or Basic car maintenance for today’s woman (men allowed too), I loved them.
In the 90s my high school had an elective class called Single Living, in which they’d teach you how to open a bank account, understand a lease, write a check, prepare a resume. They got rid of it in 1997 but they kept Shakespeare. I loved Shakespeare, but being able to identify the turning point of Hamlet has not been as useful as knowing how to format my resume.
Load More Replies...Schools go by the assumption that the parents are going to teach kids about life lessons while school teaches them lessons about math, science and grammar. They didn't take into account how many parents check out and feel entitled to leave everything their child should learn to an underpaid and harassed teacher who already has too much on their plate. Parents: Get involved with teaching your children how the world works. Teachers and the internet can only do so much.
Playing music at any level aids in learning across all other subjects.
Why would you want to learn about a credit score, health care plans, and taxes as aa 4th grader?
These incredibly useful life skills would be taught in high school.
Load More Replies...Yeah I hated learning about music in music class as an 8 year old rather than learning about taxes.
Me too. Music is so boring compared to taxes. Ah the poor children.
Load More Replies...I hate the recorder as much as the next person but it’s a very easy instrument to learn and is affordable so is a good basis for music instruction.And parents need to teach those things (tax return, credit score etc), not schools.
Any instrument sounds bad when you’re a beginner. It’s actually a beautiful instrument, played well. Just don’t tell my clarinet colleagues I said that lol.
Load More Replies...I laughed way too loud at this and now my dad is looking at me weird 🤣🤣🤣
Funny. I don't ever remember being made to play the recorder, I DO remember being taught arithmetic, and reading, history and geography
freezing fingers, blowing nose, snow down your wellies, *clap clap* soggy socks, and [repeat]
You learn how to choose a good healthcare plan by understanding arithmetic and percentages. You can understand your credit score if you understand percentages and interest rates. You can do your taxes by being able to read, do arithmetic and by filing important documents. In other words, a lot of the stuff you learn in school is directly relevant to various things you have to do as an adult. And anyone who disparages hot cross buns is just wrong.
The recorder is taught in about 3rd grade, when no one has ever asked how to do taxes. How to do taxes and such is taught in high school. The class use to be required. Now you have to choose it. Who is to blame?
Manage a checking account? Very funny. Come back tomorrow and we'll make paper chains.
I feel this!!!!- I've Ben out of school for decades........if you hand me a recorder, I may beat you with it.......... it I could still play a jaunty bit of "hot cross buns" first!
This is my own experience and I went to what was deemed ‘a troubled’ school. They did teach this at my HS school as part of Economics - they had to ignore teaching FCAT BS to get to it. Also, accounting I II and III was offered.
Just put it in your mouth and blow like this...sounds like they are teaching you just HOW to pay for your taxes lol
Well done! You got the soprano recorder notes correctly!
Load More Replies...My high school had a class for seniors that explained mortgages, interest on credit cards, balancing your check book etc, and I was a good student, never had detention and often on the honor roll, but at that age you just don't understand the value of the information they're giving you. You remember the material long enough to do well on the tests, then you went and got alcohol poisoning in a field while your parents thought you were at the movies with Becky and Nicole.
I REMEMBER MY FIRST DAYS OF RECORDER GROUP IN MY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL THOSE WERE REALLY FUN and I still have my alto and saprano recorders
Yay, you!!! I play alto (my favourite) soprano, bass, tenor and cute little sopranino! Most people have no idea how beautiful this instrument is, and how complex. And…it has 600 years of repertoire.
Load More Replies...But kids need to learn music, too. It’s as important as any other subject. And before you Pandas start dissing recorders, lol: 1. A recorder is an easy instrument to start with. 2. The recorder can be played beautifully, the same as any other instrument—and they all sound pretty awful when you first start. 😄
WHAT KILLS ME WHEN YOU ARE READING OR CHECKING OUT LIKE SAY YOUR MEDICAL INSURANCE COVERAGE AND THE USE GARGON THAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT USE OR HAVE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PARAGRAPH ACTUALLY TELLS YOU ABOUT YOUR COVERAGE. INSTEAD OF JUST LAYING IT OUT IN A SIMPLE FORM. YOU HAVE THIS COVERAGE AND THIS IS YOUR PLAN ...PLAIN AND SIMPLE. NOT THEIR GROUP SPEAK LANGUAGE.
I guess school did forget to teach you that all caps is shouting.
Load More Replies...In high school (early '70s) students in the college prep track were not allowed to take typing classes. Typing was a "business" class available only to kids who were expected to get a job after graduation. I still have to look at the keyboard while I type with random fingers.
I never attended a typing class and I don't need to look at the keyboard. I only use three fingers to type, though.
Load More Replies...Answer: move out of the US. No need to do your taxes or choose the right healthcare.
The REALY sad thing is that THIS should be done by the parents! Much the same as toilet training and table manners!
These things were not taught in the last generation. Hopefully, the Board of Education will Institute a basic life skills curriculum.
Load More Replies...Alright, losers. If you’re going to poo poo on elementary school kiddos learning how to play music for 20 minutes every Monday, you are a SUCKY bored panda. You can figure this s**t out when you’re an adult. Omg.
I recently had to teach a 33-year-old man how to make out a check correctly.
Load More Replies...It is not the responsibility of any school or any teacher to educate you about the activities of daily living. That's why you have parents. If your parents don't teach you that stuff, your parents have failed you. Stop blaming schools and teachers who already have ridiculous demands placed on them as it is.
Idk. I feel like learning how to actually be adults would have been a better use of time rather than teaching us how to square dance. But that's just me.
Load More Replies...Oh the disappointment in this one. You see fries, shovel them in your mouth like crazy (because, fries) and then wonder how the taste so weird.
The mightiest of predators, the deadliest of reptiles, the most terrifying of them all! An empty roll of quicker picker-upper.
Note: this post originally had 120 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Why don't we get Tumblr stuff more often? It's hilarious!
Shortchanged again, there were several good ones well after #50 that are now.gone.
Click the link "120 images" after #50. "Note: this post originally had 120 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes."
Load More Replies...In small gray font there’s a note with a link to open the rest of the 120 posts. I thought the same thing at first.
Load More Replies...Why don't we get Tumblr stuff more often? It's hilarious!
Shortchanged again, there were several good ones well after #50 that are now.gone.
Click the link "120 images" after #50. "Note: this post originally had 120 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes."
Load More Replies...In small gray font there’s a note with a link to open the rest of the 120 posts. I thought the same thing at first.
Load More Replies...