As I was doing my daily scroll through of Twitter the other morning, I snapped out of my 8am haze when I became captivated by a rather disturbing headline. “What’s A GFY and Why Will it Replace My Beloved GIFs?” My brain, which was lacking its daily dose of caffeine, instantly perked up and anxiously waited for the article to load, which took a while because my school’s Wifi blows. As I stared at my phone’s blank screen, I really panicked a little. How can GIFs disappear? They are just the greatest things ever, could the Internet carry on without them? Could I carry on without them? Heck, I write GIF posts for a “living”!
Turns out, smart computer-y people have come up with this new thing called a GFY, pronounced like Jiffy, I think. I don’t understand the technology behind them, I don’t understand the technology of GIFs either, but from what I understand, GFYs will be like fancy GIF-Vine hybrids in HTML5 video. If your computer does HTML5 you will get a video, if it can’t you will get a GIF. The benefit to these things is that they take up less space, so will load faster, be bigger and just be nicer in general. Sure fast loading GIFs would be nice, but honestly that will kill the charm! What is a GIF if it doesn’t take 10 minutes to load, and look all grainy when it gets there.
This isn’t satire; I will probably shed an actual tear if GIFs go away. Sure I will carry on with GFYs, but it just won’t be the same. Thankfully, there are still some kinks to work out, so it could be a while. But why am I so concerned with dumb old GIFs anyway? They’re just really important to our internet culture. How else are you supposed to express how you are feeling when you don’t know the right words? GIFs can be powerful in many social situations. Need to point out your friend is an idiot, play a trump card in an argument, or express your exasperation with a crappy day? There is the perfect GIF for expressing all of those things floating around Tumblr somewhere.
So in honor of the GIF’s social relevance, here are 4 of the GIFs that I feel are most important, and will have your back when you need something witty to post on Facebook, and really, they just never get old.
Dog Napping in a Crate
The “dog napping in a crate” GIF is eternal. First off, it features an adorable pup accomplishing an impressive feat of self-swaddling. Could you wrap yourself in a blanket with such ease? Probably not. Second, this GIF can be used to convey a plethora of feelings. “Leave me alone.” “It’s cold.” “I just want to curl up and die.” This dog has your back.
Kristen Wiig Dressed as Cinderella (“Whatever”)
If you have ever read another one of my GIF posts, you may have caught on to the fact that I use this gem almost every time. I would use it every time, but sometimes I have to hold back so I don’t feel like a broken record. But can you really blame me for my dependence on this GIF? Dubious. It embodies perfection. It also is the perfect reaction to just about anything. Sure, just typing out “Whatever” would probably suffice, but posting this GIF instead just adds about twelve more dimensions of meaning.
Spongebob’s Magical Rainbow
Spongebob’s mystical rainbow of imagination may seem silly, but can actually fulfill an array of functions. I am having difficulty forming the words, but basically, you can use this GIF to express the blanket of emotions you may be feeling. Spongebob originally says “Imagination” as he forms his rainbow, but I’ve seen some customized text accompanying this GIF. If you need someone to see the light, just sum up what that light should be in one nice word and stick it under the rainbow.
Jennifer Lawrence Being Sassy
Sometimes people just don’t get sarcasm, and the only thing you can do is walk away from their brainless dribble before you rip your hair out. If you need to bow down from a conversation that is getting nowhere, and want to do so with awkward grace, the Queen of all 20-somethings has your back. Just sit back and let J-Law do all the talking. thOkay? *eyeroll*