we explain why the web loves cats so
much
this is Jacob he spends a lot of time on
the Internet
he reads the latest news or plays online
games with friends but while surfing the
web there is one thing he cannot escape
especially on social media cats
pictures gifts memes videos cats seem to
be everywhere jacob is amazed by the
amount of content related to these
felines he even read that cat videos
have more views per video than any other
category of YouTube content but why is
that
he asks psychology student and proud cat
owner Julia why the furry little
creatures are so popular
Julia explains that virality often
depends on emotionally compelling
content cat content provokes a strong
emotional response through high
physiological arousal people tend to
share positive content more than
negative or sad content which provokes
low arousal emotions furthermore cats
are the perfect canvas for human
projection we do not fully understand
their odd behavior and find them
fascinating and sometimes we see a bit
of our own behavior in them a rather
obvious reason is that cats are simply
cute and entertaining with their highly
emotive and expressive faces they're the
perfect distraction from our busy lives
you don't need any explanation or
knowledge to understand the humor
animals provide funny cat videos also
help people feel less anxiety sadness
and annoyance who could stay upset
watching a little kitten chasing its own
tail
Jacob understands Julia's points but
there are plenty of other cute animals
also he often finds that dogs are much
nicer than cats
what makes cats so special
julia has an explanation for this the
internet lives for weird things as
people seek out the strange cats are
unpredictable and often get themselves
into hilariously unexpected situations
the element of surprise and cat content
makes it so compelling so why aren't
dogs ruling the web it's easy they seem
too eager to please us dogs have been
domesticated for some time and so can
interact comfortably with humans cats on
the other hand are much harder to read
and have never evolved to work with us
they're unpredictable and seemingly
arrogant behavior makes them so
interesting Jacob finally understands
the fuss about cats on the World Wide
Web
not everyone who likes or shares cat
content is a crazy cat person cats are
just hard to resist already owning the
Internet and with one more cat sceptic
convinced cats are one step closer to
world domination