Why is Gen Z humor so weird?

Let’s get straight to the point, Generation z humor is nonsensical in it of itself, but that’s why it’s funny to us. Understandably many older people don’t find deep fried memes, self-depreciation, or existentialist humor all that funny. It’s not a jab at the older generations though, because from the outside looking in, gen z jokes make little to no sense. It doesn’t make sense to us either for the most part, and that’s exactly why its so uproarious for us. We have our inside jokes, obscure memes, and our niche Dadaism humor because we were born into a world that is just as nonsensical. War, climate change, pundits on TV screaming their agendas, crippling national debts, inflation, and more have been cast on us from the moment we were born. While all of this wasn’t explained to us from the beginning it’s surrounded us our entire life and affected us deeply. Our generation has the highest rates of depression and anxiety closely followed by Millennials (May 10, 2018) Retrieved from https://www.bcbs.com/the-health-of-america/reports/major-depression-the-impact-overall-health

To cope with the world, we found solace in non-sequitur humor. Environmental factors affect people so deeply and we can see that in all generations not just ours. A perfect example of the struggles faced by other generations would be the lost generation also known as generation G.I. They came of age just in time for World War 1; one of, if not the worst wars in history. Over 16 million people died during this war and for the people who just came of age, it seemed like the world was meaningless. This sense of meaninglessness sparked a new art movement called Dadaism. Dadaism was a form of contemporary art that was used to ridicule the meaninglessness of the world and all within it, sound familiar? In no way am I implying the wars that were going on during our time were as bad as WW1 that’d be asinine and beyond presumptuous, but the situations themselves are similar and beget similar results. Generations that find comfort in absolutely ridiculous forms of humor and art. We cling to things that make us feel good enough to forget, if only for a second, the hopelessness that surrounds us. In the attempt to not end on a negative note, I’m vying for a resurgence of the roaring twenties, because they seemed great, here’s to hoping.