Without a shadow of a doubt, life can be a bummer. Ever since Eve ate that godforsaken apple, no human being has been a stranger to stress and sadness. 

For all the questionable sides to social media, one of its frequently exploited benefits is that it can be a great place to complain. If we have to deal with bad stuff, we need a place to talk about it. By the same token, the internet isn’t always what we might call a safe space. Another important aspect of our online personas is keeping up appearances, after all.

Perhaps this is part of the reason that so many people saw fit to pour their hearts out when a beloved children’s TV character conducted a mass wellness check on his Twitter account. Elmo is no stranger to starring in memes that can get pretty dark, so perhaps that’s why the Sesame Street star took it in his stride when people descended en masse to share their existential woes. Mass catharsis was never so witty.