- As Gen Alpha memes dominate the internet, many have ridiculed them for being too inane.
- Gen Zers are now reminding each other their memes have been equally as ridiculous as "Skibidi Toilet."
When "Skibidi Toilet," a Gen Alpha meme about a man's disembodied head popping out of a toilet, first went viral earlier this year, it was met with widespread bafflement. Older generations — particularly Gen Z — worried they were falling out of touch since they didn't understand its nonsensical humor. The feeling has only worsened as new puzzling memes have emerged (like, what's "Fanum tax?").
While people have widely criticized Gen Alpha for having a "brainrot" sense of humor, some are now rushing to the young generation's defense. Gen Z users specifically are going viral with videos reminding each other of the ridiculous memes they grew up loving and coming to the realization that perhaps brainrot humor is universal.
Three of the most popular TikToks over the last few weeks feature chaotic montages recalling popular Gen Z memes. Most memes are from the mid-2010s and include references to Snoop Dogg smoking weed, explosions, and jokes about major league gaming (MLG) culture set to electrifying dubstep.
@general5001 Brainrot #mlg
♬ original sound - general
The TikToks feature hypothetical quotes on-screen about people saying Gen Alpha "is literally watching brainrot," and then include a statement insinuating that what Gen Z watched wasn't any better.
The clips made some commenters come to terms with the fact that most young people tend to enjoy absurdist, and sometimes cringeworthy, content.
"Every generation had a brainrot moment," one comment with over 39,000 likes said on the user @anthonyboiiiiiii's montage parody video.
"Y'all are blinded by nostalgia this is literally just as bad as skibidi toilet and these new trends," another person wrote on the video.
Other Gen Zers didn't agree and wished they could relive the glory days when montage parodies were ascendant.
"This was peak culture and y'all just can't accept it," a user wrote.
@aymj13 This is so skibidi ohio #fypシ #fyp #fypage #fypシ゚viral #music #fypdongggggggg #pride #lgbtq #lgbt #rock #metal #metaltok #numetal #mlg #genz #genalpha #skibiditoilet
♬ original sound - Kate Cobain
One video with over 840,000 views featured a person reciting a bunch of internet slang that was popular a decade ago when Gen Z was first taking over the internet: "Hashtag, LOL, yolo, get shrekt scrub, 1v1 me mlg, 360 noscope," they said.
"Literally all of Gen Z in like 2011," the creator, @aymj13, wrote on-screen.
Another video resurrected Ugandan Knuckles — a meme based around a poorly drawn version of the red Sonic character saying things like "do you know the way." The meme was hugely popular around late 2017 and early 2018, but it quickly faded after it was accused of promoting racist stereotypes.
Many commenters said they came to realization that Ugandan Knuckles is equally, if not more distasteful and bizarre, than Skibidi Toilet, and they wondered if they would have appreciated Skibidi more if they were younger.
"I have a conspiracy theory that the reason we hate skibidi toilet is that it came out in the wrong era," one person with over 900 likes said.