Internet Culture

A 16-year-old made a ‘meme guide’ to help her dad understand online trends

The handy guide covers a variety of memes and popular internet slang.

Photo of Stacey Ritzen

Stacey Ritzen

meme guide

In these whirlwind digital times we live in, it can be hard to keep up with the latest memes and trends. (Heck, that’s one reason this very website exists!) It’s even more difficult for those over the age of 35, and oftentimes parents can find it damn near impossible to relate to these weird, Extremely Online creatures they brought into this world. And, unfortunately, parenting doesn’t come with a handy meme guide for moms and dads to flip through at their convenience.

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So one enterprising teen made one for her dad.

New York Times bestselling author and speaker Jon Acuff shared a meme guide that his 16-year-old daughter L.E. Acuff gave to him last Christmas, on Instagram this week. “It is the most amazing thing ever,” he wrote,  The table of contents includes phrases I should know, memes I should know and even a special note about TikTok.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B8t-zqAlcZ-/

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“She spent weeks making this and each page is funnier than the last,” he added.

Highlights in the guide include popular memes like the woman yelling at cat and SpongeBob, as well as terms such as VSCO girls and internet phenomenons like JoJo Siwa.

“He can get a little behind on the current meme situation, since meme culture is changing and evolving so fast,” L.E. later told Today Parents, joking that even for her relatively hip dad it can sometimes “take about five to 10 business days” for the current trends to start to surface in his Twitter feed.

“I decided to make him a little book just so he could stay on top of some of my personal favorite memes and current lingo,” she continued. “Memes that circulate in the Gen Z crowd.” She also apparently keeps nagging at her father that Facebook and Twitter “are over,” but he has yet to part ways with the social media platforms. Which is honestly probably for the best, considering his chosen career!

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“Usually by the time I figure it out, it’s already been retired, so her doing it was such a kindness to me,” explained Acuff of his daughter’s meme guide, adding that he and his wife “try to be intentional” about connecting with L.E. and her 14-year-old sister as they navigate their teenage years. Lucky for them, it sounds like they’re already raising great kids.

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The Daily Dot