How the Internet Changed Gen Z Humor

"Soup Time", says Standing Frog

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If you’re anything like me, you just cackled at the image above. It’s objectively¹ very funny. But what’s harder to explain is why - why is a distorted image of an upright frog funny? Why ‘soup time’? I don’t know man, it’s just funny. Gen Z humor is weird.

But at the risk of dissecting the frog, I think we can do better than just ‘weird’. Gen Z humor is different from what came before it in specific ways. And the internet specifically has informed much of what defines their weirdness.

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Disclaimer!

As with any conversation about generational differences, we’re doing to do some stereotyping. We’re going to paint with a broad brush and talk in generalities. It’s impossible to say anything about a grouping that includes tens of millions of people without fuzzing some of the details. So if you think that I’m making sweeping assumptions, or that there are exceptions to what I’m saying, or counterarguments… yes. Yes, that is the case. Don’t think of this as the final truth, think of it as containing some nuggets of insight that are often true.

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What is Generational Humor?

Before we can properly talk about Gen Z humor, we have to understand the generations before it.