When You Forget Your Headphones

Submission 27,568

Part of a series on When X / X When. [View Related Entries]

About

"When You Forget Your Headphones" is a reaction image series revolving around the commonly shared experience of forgetting to take one's headphones before heading outside, particularly the feeling of dismay upon realizing it at a distance away from home.

Origin

The earliest known image macro examples were uploaded as part of the first world problems meme on Twitter in early 2013.

Spread

Throughout 2013, more variations of the caption surfaced as part of the first world problems meme on Imgur and Reddit, as well as on WeKnowMemes, 9gag and Memecenter. On April 29th, 2016, Twitter user CommonWhiteGirl tweeted a two-pane screenshot of Justin Bieber looking rather distressed from a music video with the caption "when you forget your headphones at home," garnering over 8,600 retweets and 16,000 likes.

In 2016, the joke continued to spawn a handful of reaction images on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, especially resonating well with fitness humor communities online.