About

Laptop Cuck, also known as ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Edition, is a meme format based on a viral video in which a young man is fully concentrated on his laptop, seemingly oblivious that his girlfriend is cheating on him right next to him. In memes, which often utilize the nightcore composition "Wasted," the video transitions into sped-up gameplay of a video game that the man is focused on and excels at.

Origin

On February 28th, 2020, adult film actress Eva Elfie uploaded a pornographic video in which she has sex with her boyfriend's friend while he's busy gambling on his laptop to PornHub.^[1] In one part of the video, Elfie leans on the desk next to the "boyfriend," looking at his laptop as he stays oblivious to her having intercourse next to him. The video accumulated over 56.9 million views in three years.

On August 23rd, 2021, YouTube^[2] user трэш posted an edit in which the clip transitioned into an intense gameplay recording of Geometry Dash that the "boyfriend" is apparently engaged in. The meme (shown below) was titled simply "( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)" (an emoticon also known as Lenny Face) and accumulated over 1.1 million views in two years.

Spread

On November 22nd, 2022, YouTube^[3] user Tonny posted another edit in which the clip transitioned gameplay of Europa Universalis IV, set to the nightcore remix of Juice WRLD's "Wasted." The video received over 152,000 views in one year.

On December 9th, 2022, YouTube^[4] user L Death posted the earliest found derivative meme within the format, replacing Europa Universalis IV gameplay with Factorio gameplay. The video (shown below) garnered over 1.2 million views in 10 months.

The format did not see further use until March 2023. On March 19th and March 23rd, 2023, YouTube^[5][6] users Jena and El Generico posted Hearts of Iron IV edits of the meme that received over 316,000 views and 947,000 views in seven months, respectively (shown below, left and right).

The format achieved significant popularity on YouTube in April 2023, with multiple versions of the meme going viral on the platform.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References