Overview

The Zoomer Wojak meme serves as a humorous critique of Generation Z, often portraying its members in a lighthearted yet mocking manner.

Background

Zoomer is a colloquial term for individuals belonging to Generation Z (Gen Z). This meme first emerged as a Wojak character on 4chan, poking fun at Gen Z teenagers and young adults, similar to the use of 30-Year-Old Boomer to mock older millennials. The Zoomer character is often depicted with shaved sides, a slicked-back hairstyle, and round glasses, embodying a love for mumble rap and popular battle royale games.

How It Began

The first known appearance of the Zoomer Wojak occurred on July 21, 2018, when an anonymous 4chan user shared a thread in the /r9k/ board. This post featured the term 'zoomer' alongside an image that included a poster of American rapper 6ix9ine and a computer screen displaying 4chan.

Meme Evolution

Shortly after its debut, the Zoomer Wojak gained traction, with users on various 4chan boards like /fit/ and /his/ creating threads that reused the original format. In the weeks that followed, variations of the character showing different crying expressions began to circulate, used to mock traits associated with Gen Z, such as fandom for mumble rap and battle royale games like Fortnite. An early example of the crying Zoomer was posted on June 28, 2018, in response to a greentext story about 30-Year-Old Boomer. Over the next few months, Zoomer, along with the characters 30-Year-Old Boomer, Doomer, and Bloomer, became popular in video edits on YouTube, with notable contributions from users like Prince of Zimbabwe and Shuzzo. Within these memes, Zoomer often finds himself humorously antagonized by the 30-Year-Old Boomer character.