We all know the routine by now. The week is slowly morphing into the weekend, and the finish line is technically in sight, yet the reality of starting another full week and doing everything over again still looms over us. That in-between space can be exhausting, and it’s exactly when we start looking for something that can take our minds off things, or make the time pass faster. If you are reasonably online, looking at memes is a no-brainer in this kind of situation. They can easily fulfil these lofty desires.

Memes do not have to be profound or purposeful in any way; they just need to offer a moment of distraction and a brief escape from whatever is weighing on our minds. At this point, meme culture has grown so vast that it touches nearly every topic imaginable, and one benefit of this is that we can stumble upon exactly the kind of humor we are in the mood for without even actively searching for it. At the same time, memes invite us to wander outside our comfort zone, exposing us to jokes and ideas that we were not expecting. The balance between familiar and unknown is exactly what makes internet humor work, and what makes it perfect for a minute of relaxation to end the week. It’s constantly trying to satisfy a number of needs at once, just like we are trying to do when we seek out silly things to look at on our phones.