Memes & Maturity: How College Can Shape a Sense of Humor

 A chuckle echoes through the air. Long nails clack against the phone screen to like post after post. Various distorted audios play as Zoey Meraz, a Cal Poly freshman who runs a local comedy meme page, scrolls through her social media feed. Meraz was previously the owner of a comedy account with over 10,000 followers, but since her time at Cal Poly, she has decided to archive her account and start from scratch. Meraz hopes that with her new environment and peers, her followers will adhere to her fresh perspective on comedy and relate to the new era of humor that college has introduced to her.  

Marley: Can you please state your name and your connection to comedy? 



Zoey: My name is Zoey Meraz and my connection to comedy is my meme account on Instagram, I don’t know if I want to say the name…it’s embarrassing wait. Okay, it's AlphaEdgelord on Instagram. 


Marley laughs, Zoey starts as well


Zoey: I know, I know, please I literally used AI to name it 


Marley: No, no, it’s great 


Marley: How did you come up with the idea for this meme page? 


Zoey: I've always loved scrolling through other meme pages on Instagram and TikTok and I just thought it would be fun to start my own and just share things that I found really funny. 



Marley: How do you define the voice of your main page, or to specify, what is the tone or style you're trying to maintain? 


Zoey: I'd say very sarcastic and very literal memes, which I love a lot. I think they're so funny for no reason. 
I think that's pretty much the tone that I'm going for is just those like funny, not funny memes.


Marley: How would you say your tone and comic style has changed since coming to SLO? 


Zoey: I'd say um meeting a lot of friends who had the same humor as me, that I felt like I could really, like, let out my real side of my humor and feel like it was understood and funny. 
That was a big thing for me coming here. I deleted a lot of my content, so much of it, like my page looks empty right now but yeah I deleted a lot when I got here and actually started posting again just a few days ago because I didn’t really feel like the older stuff matched with what I find funny now and my sense of humor definitely has changed since getting here. 


Marley: So how do you see memes as a tool for connection and communication? 


Zoey: I'd say, in a way, like it kind of connects people in the sense where like they can really… hold on. People can really connect through what they find funny. I've always thought that that is, that is like such a big part of, like, friendship and stuff is a common sense of humor. 
So that's why I think I feel like memes really, like, help friendships bond a lot. 


Marley: Do you pull any inspiration from local events or inside jokes, and could you give an example?

Zoey: Inside jokes. 
Got a lot of those. I'm trying to think of one that's socially acceptable. 


Zoey laughs


Zoey: I think a big inside joke is my love for my iPad. And I have a meme on my account about my iPad and I think it's really funny and I think it's a joke between me and my friends about me and my iPad. 
And I just think that that's an inside joke that, like, I posted and I feel like only we would get it. 


Marley: Do you think meme pages and culture altogether has helped bring together people in the community? 


Zoey: Absolutely, um kind of like what I was saying about, like, bringing, like, friends closer and like in a bonding way. I feel sense of humor is just so important in life as a whole, that I feel like when you find something that really makes you laugh and it makes other people laugh, that's a really strong connection. 



Marley: How has your main page evolved over time and where do you see it going in the future? 


Zoey: I feel like it's evolved in the sense where I think I figured out what I like to post and what I think is really funny and what I think other people would find really funny. And I feel like I know my target audience and, yeah, I just feel like I know what I'm supposed to post. 



Marley: Are there any new trends or videos that you've noticed around campus or seen lately or within your friend group? 


Zoey: Trends? I think it's just funny to hear a lot of people around campus, whenever I go out and I hear people quoting the same things that me and my friends quote, and like just from viral videos on TikTok or memes on Instagram, just funny photos that you see anywhere online. 
I love when I hear people quote those and I know it and I think it's really funny 





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