Life in a meme deprived world

For the nights are no longer dank, and we're left with tears…

I unlocked my phone to open the dialer, reminiscing the times when the aura radiating from my cellular was much more amiable. The Wi-Fi connection was once my getaway button, never ceasing to shower my lonesome soul with an overwhelming amount of notifications as a result of my friends tagging me in the unforgettable "posts that shall not be named".

2021- The year that changed our lives forever. It was the year of the great orange man's demise. So unbearable was his frustration that he had decided to ban all forms of social media mockery dedicated to him as they successfully portrayed an uncanny resemblance to his time in office. Everyone rejoiced in the idea of his future absence but soon the creators of this lost art started experiencing troubles. They couldn't find any content for creating new art and the ones which they did make just weren't dank enough. Giving in to their frustration, fast-forward half a decade, here we were in a world filled with empty scrolls through Facebook with nothing but remnants of what was once the littest social hub the world had ever known.

Zoning back to reality, I clicked on "The Hourly Starlet" to check the news. After flipping through a few "lost robot" announcements and an official address from President Kanye justifying his controversial decision of introducing R&B freestyling in congress meetings, I came across the dreaded article heading "Fifth Meme anniversary - gone but not forgotten."

"Meme" - The slightest glance at the word opened up a window leading to memories of a whole other world I had chosen not to commemorate. Flashbacks of the never-ending array of LMAO-ing on the humorous posts consumed me whole. It soon brought me to the realisation of how long it had been since I had possessed a smile so broad that it looked like I had a hanger stuck inside my mouth. Letting out a sigh of utter despair, I pressed the home button. It was time.

I opened the rusty Facebook icon (yes the unused apps had rust all over them-courtesy of the new iOS update) and braced myself for the disappointing view. My notifications were flustered with invites into "meme-withdrawal" support groups but knowing this was a burden each of us had to carry on their own, I ignored them. The number of meme-hate groups was on the rise, establishing their dominance with their hate posts now that they could finally come out of hiding. The toll of sad and A N G E R Y reacts was on a record high. 

A few rebels were often seen protesting with the little stream of followers they still had. Interestingly their posts, even though positively reacted by a small fan-base due to fear of their accounts being reported, had a bigger love-to-total reactions ratio than all the hate posts combined. Subsequently I smiled. There was still hope.

After scrolling a little while longer, I decided it was time for me to let go again. 

"Until next time," I whispered to my long lost companion.

Veronica Gomes is a devout Coldplayer and Sherlockian who is convinced her dog has secret pet parties at her place when she's not around. Email her at gomesveronica1997@gmail.com