One thing about me? I’m obsessed with the internet. So obsessed that I built my career off everything I learned as a 16-year-old One Direction fangirl and my current job (running Shit You Should Care About, a media company that helps young people understand the news) totally enables this obsession.
It’s never been the chic parts of the web that caught my attention; I wasn’t watching makeup tutorials like my friends or scrolling through Pinterest to save workout inspo. I loved everything that was stupid about it, from Fred to “Little Monkey At The Apple Store”.
Between all this stupidity and a love for One Direction, a media company with a meme queen at its helm was born.
1. One tweet that sums up the entire internet
Twitter is fun because you get to be like, “Ducks are good” and someone in your mentions will go, “Um, I’m sorry but my brother is married to a duck scientist and this is a harmful view” and then someone else pops up going, “Your silence about horses is extremely telling”
— Mike Drucker (@MikeDrucker) June 7, 2019
You simply don’t get to run a media company in 2024 and know peace in your comment sections. You can’t win – you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t – and it always feels like you’re disappointing someone or getting something wrong. This tweet is the best way I’ve seen this lack of nuance summed up.
2. Jetpack fail
You know when you’re with a group of people and you’ve run out of things to watch on TV so you switch to YouTube? This is always the first thing I play. I have always been obsessed with news bloopers, and in my humble opinion this is the cream of the crop.
3. Grape Lady falls (and the Family Guy remake)
This is one of the internet’s most iconic videos and one that has certainly stood the test of time. I can’t tell if I like the original or the Stewie Griffin version more, but you can watch them here back-to-back and decide for yourself.
4. The worst note Harry Styles has ever sung
My best friend Ruby and I have been obsessed with One Direction since they were on The X Factor, but we have NEVER been able to get over this one really terrible note Harry hits about two minutes into their performance of Your Song. This is coming from someone who simply ADORES Harry. It’s just nice to remind myself he’s human-ish every now and again.
5. AngryDad selling his car prank
My brothers and I have always loved pulling pranks or taking the piss out of my dad, so I think watching these two brothers take it to the ABSOLUTE NEXT LEVEL with their dad just sent me into absolute oblivion. Also, why are Australians so hilarious when they’re mad?
6. James Charles falling over
You don’t simply grow up on the internet in the 2010s and get to avoid the James Charles of it all. For a long time, he WAS the drama. In this video he’s doing a challenge with the Sister Squad (if you know, you know) and he’s running through a mall with Grayson Dolan when he just … slips over. That’s literally it.
7. Justin Bieber likes that laugh
Before I was a One Direction fan, I was a Belieber, but even I can admit that this man was a little SHIT. This video of him making fun of an interviewer’s laugh is both my worst nightmare as an interviewer and my favourite thing to quote with my friends.
8. Fred
Fred is like the ultimate early internet memory for me. Just a silly dude with an altered voice making home videos. NOTHING used to make my cousins and I laugh like a good Fred video.
9. This was you as a baby!
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I’m really not that interested in trends (they move so quickly these days) but one TikTok trend that I was OBSESSED with was when parents began gaslighting their kids into thinking this weird little flying puppet from Brazil was them as a baby.
10. Spaghetti Cat
Were you even a kid on the internet if Parry Grip didn’t have you in a chokehold? Spaghetti Cat was always my favourite because the song goes SO hard, and who doesn’t want to see a cat sitting behind a plate of spaghetti? It’s also quite inspiring, if you listen to it in the right way.
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Lucy Blakiston is the founder of Shit You Should Care About. Her debut book Make it Make Sense, co-authored with Bel Hawkins, is on sale now.
