Internet legends

I remember it was the year 2014. I was working at my office. A friend came running to me. First I thought there is some emergency. But then I saw a mysterious smile on her face. That is when I realised there is nothing serious. She had her wide screen phone in her hands. There was a picture on her screen which she wanted to show me. She showed me the picture and asked me, "Amy what is the colour of this dress?" I look at it and I said, "it looks white and gold".
She immediately smiled and said, "okay so we are a team". Then she move to another colleague of mine and ask him, "what is the dress of this colour?" He said, "it looks blue and black." I was completely in disbelief. I asked my friend, "did you show him another picture?" She denied she had shown him the same picture. How was that possible that he was seeing colours different from what we had seen? What kind of witchcraft was that?
I asked my colleague again, "do you really see blue and black? Or you just want to tease us?" He said to me that blue and black are the colours that he is seeing on that dress and he was not kidding. I look that my friend completely confused. She told me that the entire internet is confused about the colour of this dress.

Really the dress had become the global viral phenomenon. This photo had come from a private account and it quickly became an internet sensation. Some people saw it to be white and gold while others saw it blue and black. Internet was divided. The people were confident of the colours they were seeing and were trying to convince the other group how tgeir perception is correct. That time internet was not as unruly as today, hence there were no online fights that we had witnessed.

The dress was the talk of the town. It had been shared everywhere. This question was asked to everyone. Common people were making videos about it on social media explaining their views. Celebrities were asked this question on the red carpet and they were asked to explain their views. The dress also became a world wide phenomenon and the fuel for a lot of internet memes. The dress itself had become a pop culture moment by that time.

But the discussion did not stop there. Doctors, neuroscientists, and psychiatrist were also brought in to express their opinion. Doctors were explaining that how our perception differs across various groups. How each individual is viewing this object in a different manner. How the brain chemistry has a key role to play in this aspect. How the structure and the health of our eye is deceiving us into seeing the colours that do not exist. The dress not only gained publicity but it had also become a subject for research. Address that did not require any recognition had become a celebrity, an icon.

The discussion around the dress started dropping after a couple of months. After a few months when other internet phenomenon took over "the dress" became a memory. Even today sometimes the dress comes up in internet discussion and again it divides the internet. The dress was one of the first Internet legends that I had witnessed myself. It was worth the hype. Even 12 years after its post occurrence it deserved a place to be written in an article.

I still I am of the opinion that the dress is white and gold in colour. If you feel otherwise do let me know.

Around 2019 a meme became viral. On the left side a woman was seen crying while pointing a finger. On the right side, we see a beautiful white fluffy cat seated at a table, has a plate full of green vegetables. The cat has disappointment on its face. This image became a meme material.

In reality, these were two separate images. The image with the woman was from a famous American reality show. It is a snippet from an emotional scene. Whereas the other image belonged to a cat Smudge. Smudge hated vegetables. The photo was taken at a restaurant when a plate of vegetables was placed in front of him. The disgust is clearly visible on his face. Two images had no connection. However, I must say the person who merged these images is a genius. He or she may not have realised that they had created an internet legend.

The merged image became a viral meme fuel. Several memes were released where the woman would say something emotional and the cat would say something sarcastic or funny. The meme became an instant hit for two reasons. The reality show was famous in America and had a strong fanbase. The other and the most important reason was the cats have a gigantic global fanbase. The meme received approval from the internet.

The meme benefitted the reality tv star. She was famous but the meme made her internet famous. Overnight she gained millions of followers across her social media account. She was all over the media, giving interviews, selling merchandise, and enjoying her fame. Her costars became jealous of her. They had alleged that the meme made her famous whereas their work on the reality tv show made them famous. They did not need internet for fame (sour grapes I guess).

The meme benefitted the cat, Smudge a lot. Smudge belonged to a common family with no connection or fame. Overnight he became an internet sensation. He achieved the superstardom which most can only dream of. Smudge gained followers and became fan favorite. Of course who does not like a fluffy cat. Smudge was a handsome boy and the internet fell in love with him instantly. Smudge gained more popularity that the woman.

The trend of these memes were unstoppable. The phenomenon of woman vs cat had blown the internet. So much so that the reality tv star met Smudge and that photo and video reached a new level of "viral". The memes kept growing and the internet kept loving them. Seven years from the inception, these memes still exist all over the internet. These still pop up in random social media posts. They still have the capacity to go viral and they do.

For me, these memes hold a special place in my heart. I am a cat lover. I love seeing cat posts on social media. I would rather watch cat videos than watching videos of influencers. I loved the memes of woman vs cat, mainly because of the cat. At one point, I used to share at least one meme per day of this type with my friends and family. Even today when I find an interesting meme of the woman vs cat, I still share it and people love it. I believe the memes of woman vs cat are here to stay, mainly because they are funny and because of the cute Smudge.

You may have noticed that I have mentioned the name of the cat but not the woman. The reason is that I had researched the cat but I was not interested in knowing anything about the reality star. I am on that spetrum of internet that loves cats more than humans. That was an interesting crossover of the reality TV and cat. I hope to see more like these in the future.

This year in January a clip became viral. This clip was from a documentary that was created over 10 years ago. The clip showed that there is a group of penguins. The penguins are walking in a line. One penguin moves away from the group. This unfortunate penguin starts walking towards the mountains. The researchers say that the penguin is headed straight towards starvation and ultimately death. It was hypothesised that the penguin could be ill. Because of the illness it is unable to understand the safety and risks. The safety is to stay with the group and head towards the ocean where there is plenty of food. The risk was to move away from the group, move towards the mountains where there is no food or safety. The researchers had a mentioned that they were not allowed to divert the penguin back to its own group. Even if they had done that the penguin would soon return to the path that it had chosen.

This clip had no reason to go viral in 2026. Also when the clip went viral, it had a completely different explanation towards the events that had happened. According to the internet theory, the penguin is fed up of following the group. It found the need to step away from the group identity and move towards its individual identity. The penguin makes a decision to step away from the conventions and make its own path. The internet also called the penguin a Nihilist. The penguin is making its life choices without any objective, meaning, purpose, or value. Though this theory was completely incorrect, the internet held it high.

When the clip went viral, a lot of content creators were using this clip explaining how they have diverted from the comfortable life (typical influencer behavior). They have also mentioned that how the penguin is relatable to them because they have done the same thing what the penguin had done - standing on it's ground and choosing there own path. Despite being a wrong theory the influencers push theory a lot.

There were many post stating a question "what one penguin in your head say". Influencers have created viral post using this clip. It was surprising to see that the users were consuming this content and also were reacting to it. January 2026 was completely ruled by this internet phenomenon. The penguin had become a legend approximately 20 years from the time the video was recorded.

This is one thing about the internet that I absolutely hate. The internet creates its own theories and pushes it's narratives. People who do not read anything about the real events and blindly follow the internet, definitely follow the trend. They believe that whatever multiple influencers are saying is correct without putting a mind of their own. Not only that they are you with the people who have a different opinion from them because they believe that there opinion is the right one. Internet has literally made people forgot the difference between an opinion and a fact. Opinion can be different but facts cannot be.

Finally the trend of Nihilist penguin lasted only for a week or so. We are still in 2026 but if I ask any person on internet that if they remember the trend of the Nihilist penguin I am doubtful whether they would remember it. It was a short lived trend but I believe it made a lot of people think about their life choices. Though it was the incorrect interpretation I am glad that it made people think about their life choices.

I clearly remember the date 26th February 2026. I can never forget it. Neither do other people who were online that day. This day was called "The darkest day of Instagram".

I got up that day. I was sipping on my hot cup of coffee while going through my Instagram. I consider myself to be an Instagram elder who has been using it since 2013. Anyway, I was scrolling through my feed which generally consists of cat and bird posts. Then appeared a post that froze me for a second. This is not a post that would usually appear on Instagram. It is against the policies of Instagram. I was shocked to see it. The post showed a man shooting another person at a point blank range, the other person falls down, the shooter approached the camera and smiled at it. At first I thought this is a prank and I had somehow landed at a prankster's account. But that was not the case. It appeared to be a real event and not a prank. I generally report such posts. But the whole reel was too gory for me to continue to scroll further. I closed Instagram and moved on with my routine.

A few hours later, I casually opened Instagram again. This time I was hit with another such gory reel. My entire feed was covered with such reels and posts. Violence, crying, screaming, explosions, torture, violence against animals, alien sightings, mysterious figures appearing, you name it and all disturbing and unsettling posts started appearing. I shut my Instagram again and I vowed that I will not open Instagram again. At least that day.

Some time later I thought that I should check with few of my friends if they have experienced something similar. A lot of my buddies are "chronically online", hence asking them made sense. I texted few of such friends that I have received disturbing content on Instagram. Their response was instant and equally shocking. They had received such reels and posts too. Instagram had become the moster and it was now hunting us.

So it was not just me. But what if only we (me and my frineds) received such posts? What if our algorithms connected? Did other users received them too? There was only one way to find out. I quickly went on X (Twitter). What I saw on X was not unexpected but also not what I wanted to see. It was a global phenomenon. No Instagram user was spared from viewing disturbing content on Instagram. All users were complaining on X. Several users had also mentioned that they reported many posts and account sharing such posts but it was useless.

By the end of the day Meta responded. They apologied for inconvenience. They mentioned that there was an error in the algorithm which resulted in the glitch. It was confirmed that the error had been fixed. Next day onwards Instagram was normal again. I got cat, bird, and nature posts back in my feed.

The questions that still remain unanswered: Was Instagram hacked that day? Who could have backed it? Were these posts real? Who had the access to such posts? Who created such posts? Did these post ever release on Instagram that got blocked/reported later? Who was in charge of Instagram that day? Who altered the global algorithm? Was someone trying to communicate using such posts? Can any action be taken against the criminals shown in the posts? Can the victims from the posts get justice?

It is still scary to think about this phenomenon. 26th February 2025 is a day that will be remembered by the internet. I hope such day never occurs again in the future of internet.

If anybody was alive and online in 2014, they will surely remember a viral trend "The ice bucket challenge". But very few people knew what it was beyond the surface level.

The ice bucket challenge was an awareness campaign towards research of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this challenge, whoever has been challenged would either get ice water thrown on their head or would donate $100 to the research of ALS. After completing the challenge the person should nominate more people to do the same challenge.

Ice water challenge became a viral trend on social media. It became more viral with celebrities. One celebrity would do the challenge and make a video. In that video it would be shown how ice cold water gets poured on them; how they react to the ice cold water; and then they would nominate other celebrities, friends, or family members to do this challenge.

This challenge sure was entertaining. Especially their reactions after the ice water was poured on them. They would scream, squeel, curse, or shout. Also there would be an excitement towards who are they going to challenge. Most people (celebrities or non celebrities) did the ice bucket challenge and also donated money towards the research of ALS. It was a win win.

According to me, it was a wholesome challenge. It was a harmless trend. It did not involve a prank or a harmful activities. The ice water would not do any damage. Sure it was cold and the participants required blankets after completing the challenge. But it still did not cause any permanent harm or injury. This challenge resulted in entertainment as well as it raised funds for a noble cause.

For every good deed there would be critics. The people who criticized this trend said that plenty of water is being wasted. This argument was fair. However in most cases the water that was poured on the participants was not drinkable. A lot of people tried to snatch the limelight by saying they stayed away from this trend because they understand the value of water. In reality, they just wanted to be relevant in the moment. They could do it only by commenting on a viral trend.

Some people started their own trend "rice bucket challenge" where they donated a bucket full of rice to charities. This was a noble initiative by itself. It did not require to bring down the ice bucket challenge. Because both were to create awareness towards good initiatives.

Ice bucket challenge definitely became one of the best viral internet phenomenon. It is an evergreen trend. Even today we can watch old videos of ice bucket challenge and get entertained. A viral trend that helps research and awareness is still a great initiative.

Most viral trends make people do stupid acts, dance like a lunatic, or trouble others by playing pranks. But trends like ice bucket challenge win the hearts over the internet. These trends become immortal. I wish that such thoughtful trends rule the internet once again. I wish internet could become less self absorbed and more self aware. We need more such wholesome trends now than ever.