Most pre-COVID workplaces were places of confusing misery. A 9-5 job was a synonym for matured boredom, where every aspect was far too formal and everyone treated each other with passive-aggressive respect. When COVID started to run rampant, and most jobs had to take an online approach, office facades quickly crumbled, and new ideas quickly rose.

And since everyone is on some sort of social media platform, these new ideas spread like wildfire across the Internet.

At first, Internet humor about COVID was meant to garner quick laughs. A short tweet about not wearing pants in a Zoom meeting would get a few hundred likes before being promptly forgotten about. At this point in time, COVID was expected to be a quick delay in everyday life across the world. Students saw it as a 2-week break from school; Employees saw it as a time to catch up on emails and maybe get a few small projects around the house done.

While COVID dragged on, and weeks turned into months, internet humor about COVID transformed, too. People started sharing pictures of their messy home office space, stories about how their Amazon Alexa answered a question during a Zoom meeting, or a pet would make an appearance in the background of a Zoom meeting. As stay-at-home orders were extended, and home isolation became the daily routine, the need for human interaction grew. People started sharing details about their personal lives with coworkers, and their relationships changed from strictly professional to friendly and wholesome. 

During this time, the effects of isolation were starting to wear people down. The word “doomscrolling” was coined to describe endlessly scrolling through the endless negative news being reported by the media. Citizens turned to social media to keep in touch with loved ones and find something to laugh about: sharing their coworker’s funny Zoom backgrounds, stories about “zooming in” while driving, or doing chores around the house. Zoom meetings suffered untimely interruptions from a participant that forgot to mute a microphone, or three people answering a question at once. And yet, nobody seemed to have growing frustrations about working from home. If anything, most people seemed to have positive feedback about remote working.

Workers said that they felt more productive working at home, and gained more job satisfaction. While working from home, they were able to get more done in less time, and then were able to spend hours with their families, raising kids, playing with pets, or doing leisure activities. 

Online antics took the world by storm. Being able to share laughs about masks helping people avoid social interactions, and going to work in pajamas were widely relatable. People shared pictures of their messy makeshift offices, completely cluttered, save for a small clear space that their computer cameras picked up. Online humor was bringing people together, and during a time of isolation and social distancing and existing solely online, people wanted to find relatable content.

Companies quickly picked up on this shift in online attitudes, and a new marketing strategy was quickly adopted. Rather than trying to be “aesthetically pleasing”, companies tried to use relatable humor to gain followers and advertise their products and services. Duolingo, a language learning service, post their owl mascot following popular trends and songs online. The Washington Post magazine uses its Tiktok platform to simplify daily news reports to an audience that doesn’t read newspapers. “Relatability” is selling right now, and COVID and the internet is responsible. 

Many workers found that it was easier to socialize with their coworkers through a screen. They got an inside look at their coworker’s lives, and learned how to use Zoom and work from home together. Andrew Gaudes, a Brock University professor, says that remote working and social distancing has driven the need for human interaction all the more, and forced bonds that otherwise would have never grown (Gaudes). “Today, I know that if I were in a meeting with colleagues and I was troubled with a tragic event, I would share my thoughts,”, Gaudes remarks.

Rather than the office being strictly for professional interactions, COVID and social media has made it so people are more comfortable around their coworkers. People bonded over social media memes and common COVID stories through the internet. During a time where there was little to laugh about, the internet provided an influx of content to laugh at and keep people cheery.