About

First World War, Kinda Nervous refers to memes and jokes in which people share stylized edits of war footage on sites like TikTok and Instagram. Many of these videos draw footage from the 2025 Iran-Israel conflict to joke about how it's their "first World War" (referencing the potential of WW3) and that they are "kinda nervous" about it. The videos are typically set to the lyrics, "Starships are meant to fly," from the song "Starships" by Nicki Minaj, or the lines, "This place about to blow," from the song "Blow" by Kesha. Videos and meme edits created by teenagers commenting on the war and their apprehension about it first began making the rounds on TikTok after June 14th, 2025, with TikToker @rakanmunjed being one of the first to post a notable video captioned, "First world war, kinda nervous."

Origin

TikTok^[1] @rakanmunjed was one of the first to post a viral video featuring footage of missiles flying over a city on June 15th, 2025, gathering over 30 million views and 5 million likes on a video captioned, "My First World War… kinda nervous 😩," in three days.

Also on June 15th, TikToker^[2] @beabdyboo posted a "First World War, Kinda Nervous" meme edit showing several surprised and skeptical-looking cats next to large explosions. The video was set to the sound of someone screaming, and it gathered over 400,000 plays and 120,000 likes in three days.

Spread

Other TikTokers began posting videos captioned, "First World War, kinda nervous," in mid-June 2025, with TikToker^[3] @_secretaccount._x2 posting a video on June 16th, 2025, that gathered over 4.8 million plays and 600,000 likes in two days.

Also on June 16th, TikToker^[4] @koda.vsq posted a video featuring the Anthony Mackie Dancing meme, gathering over 100,000 plays and 20,000 likes on a video captioned, "First world war🥺✌️kinda nervous."

On June 17th, Israeli TikToker^[5] @emmaroob posted a video criticizing people for joking about the global conflicts in 2025, writing, "'First world war kinda nervous 🥺👉🏻👈🏻' GIRL you live in Europe stfu." The video gathered over 200,000 views and 30,000 likes in a day.

Also on June 17th, 2025, Palestinian TikToker^[6] @heyitsmeagainguys posted a meme responding to people saying, "It's my first World War I'm kind of nervous," by saying, "Welcome to the club, It's BEEN lit here in Gaza." The video gathered over 100,000 plays and 30,000 likes in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References