Humour as a Coping Mechanism. LOL.

We often turn to humour to comfort ourselves and to seek solace in despondent times. When luck falls down, we confide in our best buddy – humour. Amusing ourselves is important in such times, and is often so classified as a coping mechanism. When dealing with life problems, a little smile goes a long way. "Laughter is the best medicine," they say, but techniques of inducing amusement vary from one person to another.

Here are four kinds of humour we see all the time, nowadays often through memes on social media.

AFFILIATIVE HUMOUR

This is the type of humour we need in our lives to promote the love of sheer positivity. There will always be that one class clown we cannot imagine being absent in our classrooms, or that one deshi uncle/aunty at dawats who will fill the room with their wholesome laughter (even while passing dad jokes). Affiliative humour creates special bonds: at workplaces, classrooms and even at our own homes. Just as buds grow into flowers, relationships too, often thrive through the use of humour. To deviate from the stress of modern times, simply laughing or even smiling with companions can go a long way. How much money have I spent on League and wasted on LOL? 

SELF-ENHANCING HUMOUR

Gen-Z has seen the epitome of this type of humour through memes, more so recently centred on the ongoing pandemic, depreciating mental health and academic pressure, among others. The latter can be understood as discarding the challenges life throws at us, but self-enhancing humour can actually help people focus on the brighter side of their lives and deviate them from depressing news.

AGGRESSIVE HUMOUR

Disparaging has become too common in our daily lives, sadly, and this can be truly seen in the form of "savage" memes, power abuse in workplaces and bullying at school. This type of humour is highly discouraged, readers. "Sarcasm" can sometimes evade borders. Alienation and ridiculing aren't cool. Aggressive humour is usually used as a coping mechanism, sometimes in the name of dark humour. I urge to eradicate this form of humour style from and rather engage in acts of valour. There will be more ripple effects than what is anticipated, I promise.

SELF-DEFEATING HUMOUR

Self-defeating humour is entirely opposite of the former. This type of humour is used by people who amuse at their own expense. Butchering and belittling yourself is not a good practice, either. It is important that we value ourselves and others while respecting our individual borders.

These four types of humour which have been elucidated above can tell us a lot about specific personalities. So, when you're meeting someone new, you can detect their style of humour to get an idea of how they truly are as human beings, while a lot of characters are unique to themselves.

Which style of humour is most relatable to you?    

Ayra Areeba Abid's favourite word is 'serendipity' and she's a linguistics geek. Connect with her at areeba.ayra@gmail.com