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People used to share concerns online after a shocking event. Now, jokes, memes and funny videos about global news flood social media. In response to the overwhelming, concerning and new, it seems the world now reaches for laughter to cope with intense situations.
The cause? Generation Z.
My generation has drawn attention because of our humor when the world doesn’t know how to react. After the Louvre Museum heist, Gen Z posted videos mocking how the thieves could have done it better, accompanied by the theme song from “The Pink Panther.” Others made videos about turning the event into Halloween costumes. I even saw people comparing the crime to the plot of “Money Heist”.
And let’s not forget about the time when the internet made fun of the CEO caught cheating on his wife with his chief people officer on a kiss cam at a Coldplay concert. There was also the Titan submersible, when social media instantly reacted with memes comparing the accident to “SpongeBob SquarePants” and joked about the ways “the ghosts of the Titanic” would act toward a submarine approaching them. Finally, online videos of people going out in the middle of Hurricane Milton were covered with songs like “Hurricane” by Bridgit Mendler and “Earth Song” by Michael Jackson. Jackson.
Why does Gen Z turn everything concerning or serious into jokes?
I think the COVID-19 pandemic is a big part of the answer. During that time, one of the only things people saw on the news was how COVID-19 was spreading and causing deaths. As a result, TikTok became more than an app. It became a way for our generation to stay connected, to laugh and to escape from uncertainty and bad news. Despite everything negative going on, we discovered new ways to perpetually entertain ourselves, without thinking about the present dangers all the time.
Online humor represents an evolution of generational response to stressful situations. The fact that we chose to laugh in a time of fear and uncertainty doesn’t mean we didn’t care about what was happening. It meant we needed to laugh to stay sane.
The pandemic was a shocking time for all of us. It shaped the way Gen Z looked at the world and how we managed to keep laughing in times of struggle. It allowed us to realize that it's OK to laugh when the world is literally falling apart.
So now, when something like the Louvre heist happens, our first instinct isn’t to panic; it’s to make a joke out of it.
I think that’s a good coping mechanism. It helps us in moments where bad news or events surround us. When we laugh, endorphins are released, causing us to relax and feel that everything is under control once again. It also reduces the anxiety that can come from those moments in life, even if it’s the most shocking event we may go through.
No matter the complexity, Gen Z will always find a way to joke and distract us, no matter how bad something can be. Not everyone will understand it or look at it as something to be proud of. Maybe some people will think it’s inappropriate to look at serious events as a joke. They may even feel offended by it. But, at the end of the day, laughing was what kept us all sane while we were in our houses, scared to death of a virus that seemed to have no way of being stopped.
Humor helped us to feel confidence again that everything will get better at some point. By laughing, we were able to see the situation from another point of view. We were able to relax.
So, why not use laughter against bad news? No one can take that from us. It is our way of coping with the situations we face in our daily lives. It is our way of knowing we are going to be okay. It's part of what makes Gen Z human.
Astrid Alomia (she/her) is a freshman studying journalism with a concentration in public relations and a minor in marketing.
