The internet has gone through many stages, but one of the few things that has stayed the same is the appearance of randomness.

Much of what we see may be dictated by shady tech companies and their algorithmic preferences, but the sheer humanity of putting silly stuff on a public forum still manages to shine through. This strange tapestry of creative meme formats, sh*tposts, and beautiful, beautiful brainrot all comes together to give us the kind of pleasurable brain activity that would make us light up in an MRI machine, or something. Ridiculous as many of these tidbits are, every single one works together to bring us the endlessly amusing engine that is internet culture.

Although patterns can be found if you look, few can always anticipate what idea, image, or joke will suddenly explode into popularity next. Random clips can become total phenomena overnight, or dumb slang can seemingly spring from nowhere to become the thing that everybody says. The internet thrives on this (sometimes manufactured) spontaneity, giving us a reason to keep coming back for more.

Of course, no person could absorb every piece of ephemera that has ever come across a screen. The internet is simply too vast for that to be the case. Perhaps that is why it is best appreciated in smaller moments, rather than an obsession with keeping up with every single trend. A single image can sometimes capture the strange spirit we are looking for more effectively than endless scrolling ever could. In the moderation of a list like this, these things are easier to appreciate.