The parasocial relationship is in its golden era. Fandom culture allows people to get seriously weird about their favorite celebrities (hello, ClubChalamet) and many influencers basically make their money by pretending to be friends with their followers. Social media in general allows us to gaze at other people from afar and develop a fondness for them without ever even having a conversation with them. It’s all quite weird, truth be told.

Where do memes fit into all of this? Well, I can tell you from experience that it’s easy to feel like you know somebody even if all you know about them is their meme output, seeing as these pieces of humor can operate as small snapshots of the soul. Shared funniness is a form of intimacy, and this is made obvious by the fact that we don’t hesitate to share our favorite memes with some of our loved ones. So, perhaps it’s not that one-sided after all.