Damn i didn’t know y’all was sad? I thought it was just memes”: Irony, Memes and Risk in Internet Depression Culture

Over the last few years, depression memes are a genre that has gone from edgy to normie, taking over the meme economy to become a signature motif of millennial digital culture. This article concerns “internet depression culture” and the affective structure of mental illness memes, how they bind a culture together, and how the dialogues they engage in reflect internet users’ approach to intimacy online. Internet depression culture is a term I use to refer to the widespread identification with depressive or suicidal content online, specifically in the form of memes and humorous content. In this article, I critically analyse the popularity of depression memes and situate them within the flows of irony in meme culture. I do this by going through three phases, or movements, within a meme’s life. First, I look at depression memes through the lens of digital intimacy and earnestness. Then, I move on to how irony subsumes intimacy capital and creates risk. Finally, I conclude by addressing the wholesome memes movement and their writing and rewriting of depression meme culture through the language of neoliberalism.