About

Dark Mode refers to series of memes in which the punchline can only be viewed when the colors on the viewer's display are inverted, a feature typically referred to in technology as "dark mode" or "night mode."

Origin

Dark Mode, as a piece of popular technology rose to prominence in the mid-2010s, as websites, applications and operating systems, such as Apple's 2018 release Mojave, began allowing users to manually toggle between light and dark modes.

It is likely that the meme started in the chat application Discord, which was an early adopter of Dark Mode, announcing the feature on August 6th, 2015.^[6] One of these examples was posted by Redditor^[6] LennyMcLennington on the /r/discordapp subreddit on June 22nd, 2018. Within four months, the post received more than 990 points (95% upvoted) and 75 comments (shown below).

Spread

On August 20th, 2018, Redditor^[1] zarney111 posted a version in the /r/dankmemes subreddit. The post, a variation of Drakeposting, received more than 2,300 points (96% upvoted) and 80 comments in two months (shown below).

On September 30th, Redditor^[2] aliz74 posted a meme featuring Robbie Rotten and referenced dark mode. The post received more than 4,800 points (93% upvoted) and 30 comments (shown below, left).

That day, Redditor^[3] mossberg posted another version of the Drakeposting variant in the /r/MemeEconomy subreddit. The post received more tahn 23,000 points (93% upvoted) and 930 comments.

The following months, Redditor^[4] CraaZzy__ posted a version of the meme that used Dark Mode in the /r/dankmemes subreddit. The post received more than 61,000 points (91% upvoted) and 1,000 comments (shown below, center). The meme was shared on the /r/MemeEconomy^[5] subreddit, receiving more than 1,700 points (95% upvoted) and 500 comments.

That day, Redditor^[6] uploaded a Volleyball Booty variation referencing Night Mode. The post received more than 10,000 points (95% upvoted) and 80 comments in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Day-Night Toggle Button

Day-Night Toggle Button is an exploitable comparison meme in which people post images of what they do and how they act during the day and what they do and how they act at night. The format of the meme uses two-panels, similar to Drakeposting and the digital day and night toggle buttons found on smart phones and other electronic devices designed to designate "night mode" from "day mode."

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References