How to Frighten the New Generation
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About
How to Frighten the New Generation is a catchphrase used in a series of recaption memes based on an image macro of The Muppets character Statler captioned with suggestions on how to scare the younger generation. Spawned by a viral edit of a Facebook meme in 2020, the format has since been used to reference video games and other media.
Origin
On October 19th, 2019, the Facebook[1] page More Crazy Stuff posted an image macro starting with the question, "How do you frighten this new generation?" and suggested putting them in a room with a rotary phone, an analog watch, a TV with no remote and instructions written in cursive. The post (shown below) garnered over 22,000 reactions and 381,000 shares in four years.
Following a period of viral spread of the macro and its copycat versions, on September 25th, 2020, the Facebook[2] page Funny Thoughts and Jokes posted an image macro of The Muppets character Statler captioned with a similar suggestion. The post (shown below) garnered over 2,100 reactions and 4,400 shares in three years.
Spread
On June 1st, 2022, Redditor FiddlerOfTheForest posted a recaptioned version of the meme in the /r/ComedyNecrophilia[3] subreddit that gained over 6,200 upvotes in one year (shown below).
On June 23rd, 2022, Redditor doledickard posted a cropped version of the meme that garnered over 1,800 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard[4] one year (shown below, left). On July 28th, 2022, an unknown Redditor then posted a Five Nights at Freddy's version of the meme that received over 3,800 upvotes on the /r/okbuddyretard[5] subreddit prior to deletion (shown below, right).
The macro maintained its prevalence as a recaption format through 2022 and early 2023. For example, an Iron Lung version of the meme posted by Twitter[6] user @neoncaelestis on August 4th, 2022, saw particular virality.
Various Examples
Template
Search Interest
External References
[1] Facebook – More Crazy Stuff
[2] Facebook – Funny thoughts and jokes.
[3] Reddit – I heard people sobbing and screaming in the rooms next to me. Within hours the sobs died down, one by one, and now it's silent.
[4] Reddit – Id like to these these morbonnials figure this one out
[5] Reddit – [deleted by user]
[6] Twitter – @neoncaelestis
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