About

Don't Worry, I'm From the Internet is a catchphrase often seen in image macros featuring people dressed in cosplay costumes. The phrase is typically used in message boards to reassure people that unordinary things are acceptable on the Internet, or alternatively, to assert that the poster is an authority on a given topic.

Origin

One of the earliest appearances of the phrase "Don't Worry, I'm from the Internet" was seen as a caption on a photo of a heavyset man dressed in military gear holding a gun. It was first referenced on the Ars Technica message board^[3] in a discussion about cosplay in February 2005, with the original poster asking if anyone had remembered the photo. The image^[1] (below left) was not seen again until December 15th, 2005, when it was posted on humor site My[confined]Space along with a similar photo^[2], both using the caption.

Spread

The first YTMND^[9] page using the phrase was created on August 22nd, 2005. The phrase was used again in an xkcd comic strip^[4] about LOLcats on May 16th, 2007. In 2008, one of the early military cosplay photos was uploaded to Slashdot^[12] in August and eBaum’s World^[11] that October. In January 2010, the single topic blog Hello, I’m From the Internet^[8] was created, hosting audio files of people from across the globe saying the phrase in their native language.

A collection of image macros featuring people dressed in warrior costumes was shared on Dorkly^[5] in September 2010. On Tumblr, the phrase “I’m from the internet” is used as a tag^[6] for image macros as well as text posts in which people feel like they do not fit in^[7] with conventional social interactions because of their roots in web culture. The phrase is also used on Reddit^[10] as a way to assert that one is an authority on the topic at hand. There is also a Facebook^[13] fan page that has less than 300 likes.

Notable Examples

Search Interest

External References