Touching Grass Is Not Enough

Submission 11,797

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About

Touching Grass Is Not Enough refers to an exploitable image macro of a Whisper-post that's crudely doodled over by meme creators who replace the last part of the phrasal template, "touching grass is not enough i need X" — referencing the phrase “touch grass” meaning to get off the internet and go outside. The original meme was posted to Twitter in mid-October 2021 and was exploited across platforms like Instagram and Tumblr going into the rest of that year.

Origin

"Touching Grass" Precursors

The concept of "touching grass" was being used in memes as early as March 2021 on Instagram. For instance, Instagram^[1] account @nyaakarii posted a meme about touching grass not working anymore on March 23rd, 2021 (shown below, left). The post received 144 likes over nine months. Instagram^[2] account @aquarium.drinker also posted a notable "touching grass" meme on May 3rd, 2021, (shown below, right) that used an image of Ella Emhoff holding a gun. Their post received roughly 1,500 likes over seven months.

Both of the above memes, among others,^[3] are likely precursors to the exploitable template that took off on Twitter later that year.

"Touching Grass Is Not Enough" Exploitable Origin

On October 13th, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @Velvetworms_ tweeted the original meme (shown below). The text reads, "touching grass is not enough i need to be shot." The tweet received roughly 179,900 likes over the course of two months.

Spread

The first known variant of the meme was posted on October 14th, 2021, by Twitter^[5] user @notchaselyons. He doodled over the words, "to be shot," and replaced them with the word, "HEAD." The meme (shown below) received roughly 96,900 likes over the course of two months.

On October 14th, 2021, the original image was already being reposted on Instagram.^[6] Memes also made their way to Tumblr^[7] where they were also exploited. On October 17th, Instagram^[8] users like @thisisafleshprison made deep-fried versions of the template (shown below, left). Other Instagrammers like @masturbatriarchy^[9] placed the phrasal template on top of a newer, cleaner background image (shown below, right).

Overall, the exploitable trend stayed mostly on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr going into December 2021. In November, Twitter^[10] users like @caroreadstarot started referencing the meme without the image macro (shown below). Her tweet received roughly 5,600 likes over one month.