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Everyone loves a good laugh. And one of the best ways to get one is by looking at hilarious, relatable memes. But have you ever stopped to consider why exactly memes make us so happy? According to Parthshri Arora at Vice, these silly little images are so beloved because they make us feel less alone.

You can send them to your friends, bond with strangers on social media over memes, and even use them to grow closer to your colleagues. You can make a meme about literally any situation, and when you find out another person relates to it, you’ll be reminded that we’re all in this together. After all, a sense of belonging is a very significant part of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. 

As amusing and entertaining as memes are, they can also serve a greater purpose. The BBC published a piece exploring how memes have been used to further political movements, in protests, and to help communities cope with injustices in society.

Memes have been a part of the #MeToo movement, used to criticize Russia’s war in Ukraine, and to share residents’ unfiltered thoughts on political elections around the globe. The best jokes have a shred of truth in them, and political memes are no different. They’re a clever way to call the government a joke without explicitly saying it. 

According to Theodora Blanchfield, AMFT, memes can even play a significant role in therapy. Blanchfield explained that many of her own patients have used memes to help explain what they're going through or feeling when they don’t have the words. Memes can also make it easier to share how much you’re struggling in a humorous way. It’s a lot easier to share a meme joking about being depressed than to outright admit out loud that you’re struggling with depression.   

Meanwhile, memes can benefit our mental health by creating connections. Perhaps there isn’t anyone in your life that you feel comfortable opening up to about your anxiety, your depression, or your PTSD. And it’s easy to feel like nobody else in the world could possibly understand. 

But if you share a meme about it on social media, you might see that hundreds or thousands of people relate enough to like or repost the image. This is a great reminder that there are people out there who understand, and you shouldn’t be scared of building connections with them.   

Another great aspect of memes that Blanchfield pointed out is how they can contribute to a shared language. Memes can keep you informed about pop culture, politics, weather, what’s going on in the world, what movies are trending, etc. They’re an easy way to stay connected with society, and when you understand the references, you’ll feel like you’re really a part of your community. Memes are an extremely fast and efficient way of spreading information. 

Finally, Blanchfield noted that memes really do help us feel seen. No matter what you’re going through, you are not the first person to experience it. Memes can really help validate your feelings and help you explain to someone else what you’re experiencing. No, they won’t make it any easier to go through a breakup or lose a loved one. But they can help you at least smile through the pain and remember that if everyone else has been through it, you can definitely survive this too. 

Are you enjoying these random yet hilarious memes, pandas? Keep upvoting the ones that you find particularly amusing, and let us know in the comments below what you are smiling about today. Then, if you want to check out another article from Bored Panda featuring silly images that will make you laugh, look no further than right here!