The Internet Blow Up

Tastemaker is a series in which we reserve the right to opine. This week, the Internet Blow Up.

#Whatshouldwecallme didn't stand a chance. In a year defined by what Flyby will refer to as the "Internet Blow Up," any slightly amusing online trend instantly became fodder for every blog and/or facebook status update. What once made us laugh now gives us the urge to report as spam, or at least vomit a little in our mouths and then all over our keyboards.

First, the "meme" infiltrated every listserve and event announcement. Nothing screams originality like a reused picture with a cringe-worthy joke underneath. Meme makers generally draw on a collection of pictures of Asian parents and scenes from the Harry Potter Series to create these comedic masterpieces. God forbid someone tell a joke that doesn't involve a "fun" image of a character from the Office or a Philosoraptor.

Next, we had to endure the endless onslaught of "Shit ___ Say" to the extent that it's only a matter of time before "Shit Shit Says" comes into existence. The original "Shit Girls Say" is undeniably hilarious, but by the sixth version the joke feels as overplayed as Spice Girls music at a '90s themed party. You know something has been overused when "Shit White Girls Say" has spawned "Shit White Moms Say," "Shite White Girls Say to Black Boyfriends," "Shit White Girls Say to Arabs," "Shit White Girls Say to Latinas," "Shit White Girls Say to Mexicans" (yes, these are all different videos), and "Shit White Girls Say Part 345,000,000."

Meanwhile, as we sifted through memes of Obi Wan Kenobi and "Shit My Mute Cousin Says" we also had to withstand an onslaught of new catch phrases. "Yolo!" "That's Racist!" and "Come at Me Bro!" all became part of the internet vocabulary and were added to our list of words that should be banned from conversation (unless something is indeed racist).

Take "Yolo!" signifying "You Only Live Once." Zac Efron felt so inspired by the phrase that he had it tattooed on his hand. Here at Flyby, we're not against living life to the fullest, but we'd prefer not to use a mash-up of Carpe Diem and a yogurt brand to justify our actions.

Which brings us to #whatshouldwecallme. A month ago, we'd never heard of this trend, which involves posting videos that represent a certain mood or reaction to an event. The original website has entries that made us chuckle, but before you could say "crying baby," every emotion possible had a video attached to it. To the original creator of the website, we say "Great work." But to everyone else, we ask that instead of relaying our thoughts through videos or pictures of others, maybe, just maybe, we can remember how to tell jokes to each other in person instead of typing and e-mailing them by ourselves.