People Can’t Stop Going “Goblin Mode” Thanks To Fiendish New Meme

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Feb 22, 2022 11:00 AM EST

Ever feel like you need to go a little crazy? We're not referencing those moments where you get pushed to breaking point, or when your emotions seem to creep up on you. We're talking about the times when you decide to indulge in a helping of pure, unadulterated madness, just for the fun of it.

While we might not always admit to it, many people are just like indoor house cats: we need a mad half hour. However, this usually isn't expressed by running around the house at top speed and hacking up hairballs. In this day and age, it comes as no surprise that a lot of us turn to social media to express our excitable energy.

This is part of the philosophy behind the meme of the moment, Goblin Mode. The two word phrase has lent itself to memes and tweets aplenty over the past week or so, creating a whole legion of wannabe person/gremlin hybrids ready to take on the world with their special brand of online-friendly derangement.

Although the phrase has been used in the past, its latest and biggest resurgence has come about thanks to the recent break up of Kayne West and Julia Fox. An edited headline went viral, claiming that Fox had said that they split because Ye couldn't cope with her going "goblin mode". After that, it was a short and slippery slope from fake news to coveted state of mind.

@meowmeowmeuw

The internet has always had ways to describe this way of acting, especially in recent years as sh*tposting has become a more mainstream phenomenon. Previously, someone might have described themselves as "going feral", or maybe they would be "unhinged" if other people wanted to be uncharitable about the way in which they were expressing themselves.

Goblin mode takes this concept even further. It can't simply be explained away as a temporary moment of insanity — instead, it's a full-blown mode of existence. Being human all of the time can be taxing, to say the least. With all the different rules and social niceties that we're expected to abide by, it can be hard to keep ourselves feeling happy and sane. This means that the only solution is to embrace this alternative personality, where we can act as ridiculous and strange as we feel like and explain it away with this useful definition. This is your brain doing its own version of eating shredded cheese straight out the bag at 2am, and it's really kind of beautiful.