"How X Works" Meme Explanations

Submission 1,210

About

"How It Works" Meme Explanations refers to a series of explanation videos in which the intricacies of various processes are humorously explained with Amoguses and other memes. The format, which typically depicts a flow chart or diagram with various object labels, achieved virality on YouTube in March 2024.

Origin

On March 9th, 2024, YouTube^[1] user SENTRY posted a video titled "How DDoS Works" in which the process of the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) was humorously explained with Amogus and other memes such as Sweaty Speedrunner and Why the Fuck Everything Cost Money. The video (shown below) received over 880,000 views in three weeks.

Spread

In the following days, SENTRY uploaded more similar videos, explaining various concepts with memes. On March 16th, 2024, SENTRY posted a video titled "How Computer Works" that gained over 830,000 views on YouTube^[2] in three weeks (shown below, left). On March 23rd, SENTRY posted a video titled "How YouTube Works" that accumulated over 260,000 views on YouTube^[3] in two weeks (shown below, right).

The videos by SENTRY inspired other users to create explanation videos based on the format. For example, on March 18th, 2024, YouTube^[4] user Alexa Real posted a video titled "How does a Nuclear Reactor work" that received over 255,000 views in three weeks (shown below, left). On March 25th, YouTube^[5] user Tipsy D posted an explanation video about Trojan horse viruses that received over 362,000 views in two weeks (shown below, right).

More similar explanation videos were posted by SENTRY and other YouTubers in late March and April 2024.