Internet Culture

Teens are pretending to smoke weird stuff to ‘take the edge off’

Teen online humor is good.

Photo of Jay Hathaway

Jay Hathaway

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It’s hard online. It’s stressful. We’ve all got anxiety. Times like these, it’s understandable if you need a little something to help you relax and get through the day. We’re not here to judge. 

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https://twitter.com/1975linette/status/786294820100726786

Just go ahead and smoke whatever you want. It’s better than the alternative: keeping The Edge on. 

Pocky? Sure. 

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https://twitter.com/lotusplaza/status/784128847792836608

Banana? You do you. 

https://twitter.com/emmetbroaders/status/784755860409053184

Is that a Taki? Whatever, man. I ain’t even mad.

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https://twitter.com/NathanQuach/status/785694299971133440

The origin of the “take the edge off” meme isn’t entirely clear, but @gossipgrill’s pretzel tweet from Oct. 5 was hugely popular and may have instigated the craze. 

https://twitter.com/gossipgriII/status/783880070230183936

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Now teens everywhere are doing it: 

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https://twitter.com/yaniexe/status/788927054351740928

https://twitter.com/QUADRATlC/status/788947834292797440

https://twitter.com/briskvacancy/status/785464659310706688

And it’s spread to popular meme spam accounts:

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https://twitter.com/memeprovider/status/788484619268001792

It’s started to spawn variations and parodies:

https://twitter.com/DADLlB/status/789406585445490689

https://twitter.com/ughposts/status/789303449091440641

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And, of course, someone did the anti-joke:

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The venting of stressed-out high schoolers, forced to grow into a world that adults have already ruined, is one of the richest veins of internet humor. Just ask all of Tumblr. 

This is a meme everyone needed. Just a little something to take the edge off.

 
The Daily Dot