Today's Teens

Submission 14,623

Part of a series on Exploitables. [View Related Entries]

About

Today's Teens refers to an exploitable webcomic showing two doors with variable labels, one with a crowd of people entering it, and the other completely empty or with one person. The meme first appeared in its most well-known form in 2017, seeing significant use over the following years.

Origin

On April 19th, 2012, Facebook^[2] page Ideas For Life posted a cartoon strip by an unknown author in which there are two counters attached to a building. One is labeled "Those who have time: stand in line here" and has only one person in line. The other is labeled "Those who don't have time: stand in line here" and there is a massive crowd standing behind it (shown below). The image gained over 670 likes and 400 shares in nine years.

On May 15th, 2016, Daniel J. Mitchel posted a comic to his WordPress^[1] blog using the same idea and the copy-pasted crowd of people from the original strip walking into a building, this time with two doors. The building is labeled "socialism sign up here" with the door on the left labeled "work hard keep half" and the door on the right "no work free stuff," the former empty and the latter crowded (shown below). It is unclear whether or not Mitchel made this image, but is the earliest known person to share it. The image has also been shared a number of times on Facebook, usually on right-wing-leaning pages. On the same day, writer Michael Yon posted the comic to his Facebook^[3] page, garnering over 2,500 reactions and 2,700 shares in five years.

On September 27th, 2017, Facebook^[4] meme page Woolies Memes posted a photoshopped version of the image removing everything from the building but the doors, replacing the labels and adding the text "Today's Teens" to the right-hand-side of the image (shown below). This is the earliest known version of the image with the "today's teens" text.

Spread

The "today's teens" photoshop took off on Facebook over the following months, soon spreading across several social media platforms.

On October 8th, 2017, Facebook^[5] page Nondeterministic Memes for NP Complete Teens posted an exploited version of the image, garnering over 9,200 reactions and 1,200 shares in roughly three years, representing one of the earliest successful versions of the post (shown below).

On September 28th, 2019, Facebook^[6] page I Hate Mumble Rap posted a version of the meme with the popular door reading "XXXTENTACION MOONLIGHT INDIAN REMIX" and the left door reading "church," garnering over 2,800 reactions and 2,900 shares in roughly two years (shown below, left).

On January 29th, Facebook^[7] page Fucking With People posted a photoshop where the left door reads "church" and the right reads "gay," garnering over 1,500 reactions and 3,200 shares in a comparable span of time (shown below, right).