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 do wonder occasionally how many of my acquaintances have done things like abuse, rape or murder. Whats wrong with me?
Most rape is committed not by random strangers but by someone the victim knows. Abuse is startlingly common behind closed doors. Statistically, you know a rapist and probably several abusers.
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I look at people in traffic and wonder if they're murderers, robbers, rapists, drug dealers etc. But with the world's 3rd highest crime rate, I could probably correctly point one out in 1/10 cars. It's a question of...which one?
I thought I was the only one that thought. I always envision what's going on behind the walls. What kinds of horrors and abuse is happening. Aaaaaand right on cue there's a siren.
Um...I do. I do a lot, actually. Sometimes I envision those people watching us drive by and banging on the window or door for help, but we can't hear them.
I'm likely the most murderous, highest body count individual with which you will ever have contact. After my enlistment, I spent two years in the Middle East and two years in Sub-Saharan Africa as a military advisor. I trained and supervised teens in the mechanics of death. Have awards and medals from the host countries. Gave this up when I came home to the US. Forgot nothing, and am counted a great neighbor and good person. I am a good, caring person. Who I was 30 years ago isn't me now. And I would never hold someone, basement or not. If necessary, death and disposal, not creepy Hollywood.
Every time I see a big white van with no side windows I try every which angle to see inside. Just doing my part.
I once stopped to take a picture of a house because it looked like a fortress. Stockade fence, all kinds of creepy warning signs. Found out a week later that there had been two dead people in the house when I took the pic. Man had killed the woman and had been covering her body with kitty litter to hide the smell. He finally committed suicide.
Building an outbuilding is tedious. Keeping people in the basement is just convenient.
And efficient, if you can get them to do the laundry.
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Around 1999, I visited friends living in Truth or Consequences, NM with my two- and three- year old daughters. While my friends were at work, I used to take my daughters to a city playground in a double stroller. Later I found that in a house we walked by every day, suspected serial killer David Parker Ray had a girl tied up whom he had kidnapped and was torturing.. Very surrealistic feeling to know that was going on behind closed doors every single day we passed by that house.
I wonder how many skeletons they keep in their closet, actually. The basement is so typical. I want to see what you're hiding in the wardrobe instead! (The answer is probably not Narnia, but you might find a bone or two.)
Or passing by a big rig that has someone tied up with ninjas on motorcycles ready to roll out once the big rig stops.
No, but when seeing acres of trees or grassland, I often wonder how many bodies are buried there.
I can confirm that sheds are an acceptable substitute in such areas in the UK
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I have also wondered how many people I've passed on the street or encountered in a store on their last day alive.
Next door neighbor was good friend. Had cute dogs. Spent holidays at his place with him and his wife. Find out a couple years later he served 40 years for sexually assaulting and murdering his 6 month old daughter.
I've passed 72 house of horror, not counting Halloween sites or prisons....maybe 71, I really can't remember
Only a weed smoker ponders such mysteries....while staring at a faucet that forms geometric patterns of water in the sink
statistically, everyone has gone or goes to school with someone who will eventually be a murderer
One of my neighbors got caught a few years back with a 14 year old Amish girl in his basement. Apparently some sort of trade was made between he and the girls parents and she had been there for a few years. He went to prison. You really never KNOW anyone.
every time I see a semi-truck I can't help but think there's a young girl in there... the sad reality of our world
It's not hard to believe, someone is doing that s**t,could be someone you know.
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.
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."
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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.
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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.
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