How Cats Conquered the Internet: The History of Cat Memes and the Psychology of Worship

2026-07-18

The History of Internet Cat Memes | The Birth of Grumpy Cat, Nyan Cat, and Longcat | Why Humans Worship Cats Even Online

In June 2012, a unique exhibition opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one of the world's premier art museums. The title was "Cats and the Internet." The curator was not an art historian, but an internet culture researcher. On display were not millennia-old artifacts, but cat photos and videos that had been shared millions of times online. The person giving the opening lecture for that exhibition was the owner of the most famous internet cat at the time. Many of the attendees there must have wondered: Is this important enough to be treated as a serious cultural phenomenon? Cat pictures in an art museum? If historians look back on this era 30 years from now, they will laugh at that question. Internet cat culture is destined to go down as one of the most widespread and enduring collective cultural phenomena created by humanity from the late 20th to the early 21st century. If the ancient Egyptians enshrined cats in temples, modern humans enshrine them on servers.

Cats Before the Internet — The Prehistory of a Digital Myth

Even before the internet, cats were pop culture icons. In 1940, MGM's Tom and Jerry made their debut. Tom the cat was a character who was constantly outsmarted and overpowered by Jerry the mouse, and this paradox made audiences laugh. Then, in the 1970s, Jim Davis created Garfield, a lazy, sarcastic, fat orange cat who was syndicated in dozens of countries and made his creator a billionaire. There is a common thread among these characters. They exaggerated the actual traits of cats—their aloofness, laziness, egocentrism, and indifference toward humans—and turned them into humor. The internet explosively expanded on this formula. The biggest difference, however, was this: in traditional media, when someone created cat content, it was passively consumed. On the internet, every cat owner could become a content creator.

The Big Bang of Internet Cats — The Turning Point of 2006

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date cats began to rule the internet. But the decisive turning point was 2006. This was the year YouTube fully launched its service. Suddenly, anyone could upload and share videos, and one of the most frequently uploaded subjects was cats. But why cats? There were dogs, babies, and plenty of other animals. Yet, cat videos were shared overwhelmingly more often. Researchers explain this in a few different ways. Cats could easily be kept in small spaces, making them a more common pet for city dwellers. Their unpredictable behavior created much funnier results when caught on camera. Above all, the special psychological response to cats that had been ingrained in humans for thousands of years seamlessly carried over into the digital space. In 2006, cat videos were one of the most-watched video categories on YouTube. That remains true today.

Longcat — The First Cat Myth Created by the Internet

The first true myth in internet cat history is Longcat. In 2004, a photo was uploaded to the Japanese message board 2channel (2ch). It was a picture of someone holding a cat up, and the cat looked incredibly long. Users began stretching the image using Photoshop. The cat grew to the height of a building, the height of a mountain, the size of the Earth, and eventually the size of the entire universe. A mythology was even constructed where Longcat stood against an evil black cat named Tacgnol. It became an epic war between the cat defending the universe and the cat trying to destroy it. It wasn't a story penned by a single author; rather, it was a myth collectively forged by thousands of anonymous users. This is a crucial point. Just as the Egyptian myth of Bastet was created and spread by priests, the internet's cat myths were generated through anonymous collective creation. It was a myth without an author, a story to which everyone contributed.

Nyan Cat — The Greatest Pop Star Made of Pixels

In April 2011, an artist named Chris Torres created an 8-bit pixel cat GIF with a Pop-Tart for a body, modeled after his own cat, Marty. Around the same time, a YouTuber named Saraj00n made a video using the Japanese Vocaloid song "Nyanyanyanya" as background music. These two elements merged. The result was a video of a Pop-Tart cat with a rainbow trailing behind it, flying through space and running endlessly to the sound of "nyan nyan nyan nyan." That was Nyan Cat. In 2011 alone, this video garnered 79 million views on YouTube, making it the fifth most-watched video on the platform that year. Transcending nationality, language, age, and culture, people all over the world shared the exact same experience while watching this pixelated cat. In 2021, the original Nyan Cat GIF was auctioned as an NFT and sold for roughly 600,000 dollars. A single pixel cat selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars? Nyan Cat was not just a simple meme; it was a pop icon of the internet era. If the Beatles were the icons of the radio era, Nyan Cat was the icon of the YouTube era.

Grumpy Cat — The Internet's First Billionaire Cat

The most commercially successful story in internet cat history is Grumpy Cat. On September 22, 2012, a man named Bryan Burden uploaded a photo to Reddit. It was a picture of Tardar Sauce, a cat owned by his sister, Tabatha Bundesen. This cat always appeared to have a highly disgruntled expression. Her mouth drooped downward, and her brow placement made it look like she was constantly frowning. In reality, this was simply her facial structure, caused by feline dwarfism. The cat herself wasn't disgruntled; she just looked that way. The photo triggered an immediate, explosive reaction. People added text to the picture, generating thousands of memes. "A face that looks like Monday," "The cat rejecting your party invitation," "The cat that hates everything," and so on. Grumpy Cat became a global superstar overnight. Her owner, Tabatha, quit her job to become a full-time cat manager. Grumpy Cat signed advertising contracts. Books were published. Calendars were printed. A movie was produced. Major corporations like McDonald's, Krispy Kreme, and Reebok featured Grumpy Cat in their marketing campaigns. In a 2014 interview, Tabatha revealed that the revenue generated by Grumpy Cat had surpassed 100 million dollars. Grumpy Cat passed away in 2019 at the age of seven. Her obituary was covered by major global news outlets, including CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times. We had officially entered an era where major global media reported on the death of a cat.

Social Media for Butlers — The New Cat Aristocracy Created by Instagram

If Grumpy Cat represents the first generation of internet cats, the cats born on Instagram and TikTok are the second generation. Lil Bub: A cat whose tongue always hung out due to a congenital anomaly, and who had extra toes (polydactylism). She had a face that looked forever like a kitten's. Lil Bub became a "petfluencer" with millions of Instagram followers. Her owner, Mike Bridavsky, donated millions of dollars from her social media earnings to animal rescue organizations. Coby the Cat: A cat with striking markings around his eyes that look like perfect eyeliner. He gained massive popularity on Instagram as "the cat with perfect makeup" and amassed millions of followers. Smoothie the Cat: A British Longhair famous for always striking flawlessly elegant poses in her photos. Earning the nickname "the world's most photogenic cat," she has even collaborated with high-end fashion brands. The common trait among these cats is that they each possess a unique appearance and personality, which was carefully curated into a consistent digital persona. Cats became celebrities, and their owners became their managers.

Why Cats? — Psychology's Answer

Researchers have seriously analyzed why cats, in particular, are so dominant on the internet. A study published in 2015 by Jessica Moreno and her colleagues at Indiana University analyzed the cat content consumption patterns of 7,000 internet users. The results were fascinating. People who watched cat videos experienced a decrease in negative emotions and an increase in positive ones. Their energy levels rose. You might assume that watching cat videos during work would lower productivity, but the study showed that it actually increased focus on subsequent tasks. Cat videos served as a kind of micro-rest—a brief moment to focus on something entirely different, effectively resetting the brain. But why did it have to be cats? Researchers point to a few key factors. First, uncontrollability: Cats are unpredictable. The surprise effect created by that unpredictability stimulates dopamine release. That sudden jolt of surprise when a cat does something bizarre out of nowhere is the core appeal. Second, small and cute features: While big cats exist, the human brain instinctively feels a protective urge toward beings with round faces, big eyes, and small noses. This is known as the baby schema (Kindchenschema), and cats fit this profile perfectly. Third, a safe target for emotional connection: Cats offer pure emotional engagement without the burden of complex relationships or responsibilities. Wishing for a cat's happiness is incredibly easy and lighthearted.

More Followers Than Katy Perry — The Scale of Internet Cats

Let's look at the numbers. As of 2023, the cat account with the most followers on Instagram is Smoothie (@smoothiethecat), boasting over 2.5 million followers. Dedicated cat accounts routinely have larger followings than many human celebrities. If you tally the total views of all cat-related videos on YouTube, the number reaches into the hundreds of billions. Millions of cat-related searches are conducted every single day. According to a study by a British data analytics firm, over 3 million pieces of cat-related content are shared daily across social media. Reddit's r/cats community has around 32 million members—a number larger than the population of many countries. While there are running jokes about the sheer percentage of global internet traffic dedicated to cats, looking at the actual, measurable data reveals a scale so massive it almost makes you laugh.

From Egypt to the Internet — 5,000 Years of Continuity

For those who have followed this "Catarot" cat story series from the beginning, the pattern should now be crystal clear. In Egypt, people created cat mummies to offer to the gods. Modern people shoot cat videos to upload to the internet. Egyptians enshrined cats in the temple of Bastet. Modern people create dedicated Instagram accounts for their cats and gather followers. Egyptians shaved their eyebrows in mourning when a family cat died. Modern people leave millions of comments on the obituaries of famous internet cats. The medium is completely different, but the essence is shockingly similar: treating cats as special beings, sharing their images as a community, and connecting through that shared experience. Humans are doing the exact same thing they did 5,000 years ago. Only now, instead of temple murals, we use internet servers, and instead of hieroglyphics, we use digital pixels. Do you remember the story of the 10,000-year evolutionary chess game we discussed earlier? The theory that cats hacked the human nurturing instinct using meows, triggered dopamine release with their purring, and fostered obsession through intermittent indifference. Every single one of those strategies works perfectly on the internet, too. The dopamine release triggered by the unpredictability of a cat video is the digital equivalent of a purr. Grumpy Cat's expressionless face becoming meme fodder is the amplification of feline indifference in the digital space. Nyan Cat looping endlessly in the minds of people worldwide is the digital version of intermittent reinforcement. Cats are manipulating humans flawlessly in the digital realm as well.

How Internet Cats Made the World a Slightly Better Place

Finally, internet cat culture has actually made a tangible contribution to the world. Lil Bub's owner, Mike Bridavsky, donated millions of dollars to charities for animals with special needs using her Instagram revenue. Grumpy Cat leveraged her commercial success to sponsor numerous animal shelters. The internet cat phenomenon has raised awareness for TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) programs and helped normalize the adoption of shelter animals. In 2013, a TV show called "My Cat from Hell," hosted by cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy, hit the airwaves. The show documented the rehabilitation of cats facing euthanasia due to severe behavioral issues. It gained massive popularity and played a huge role in popularizing the scientific understanding of feline behavior. The internet's obsession with cats might look like pure, frivolous entertainment, but as a byproduct, the lives of actual cats have vastly improved. It is a wonderfully unintended positive outcome.

What About Cats in the Next 5,000 Years?

When I started this series, I opened with the premise: "Why are cats spiritual creatures? From Egyptian mythology to biological secrets." And now, 30 episodes into this journey, we are talking about a pixelated cat flying through space on a rainbow making "nyan nyan" sounds. A frowning cat that generated 100 million dollars. A cat GIF that sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Looking back over 5,000 years of history, one undeniable fact emerges: cats have been present in every space humanity has ever occupied. In Egyptian temples, Celtic villages, Japanese shrines, Ottoman palaces, Antarctic expedition ships, French spacecraft, and now, on the internet. And in none of those spaces did cats remain mere background animals. They consistently became symbols of something greater. Divinity, boundaries, wisdom, luck, paradox, and today, they serve as a conduit for momentary joy and an outlet for the collective emotions of humanity in the digital age. Whatever form humanity takes 5,000 years from now, cats will almost certainly be right there with us. Existing in a space built by unimaginable technology, continuing to captivate people for the exact same reasons. Because, after all, that is simply what cats do.

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Catarot 고양이의 지혜로 당신의 길을 밝히다

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다양한 타로 서비스를 경험해보세요.

오늘 행운의 참은?

타로 서비스

오늘의 캐타로

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궁금한 질문에 대한
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사랑 & 관계 캐타로

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초보자 가이드

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방법을 배워보세요

사이트 소개

Catarot의 탄생 이야기와
우리의 목표

타로 이야기

타로와 관련된
흥미로운 이야기들을 만나보세요

고양이와 마법

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아르카나의 기억

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타로의 역사와 유래

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타로 카드 초보자 가이드

기초 마음가짐부터 실전 플레이까지, 고양이와 함께 타로의 세계로 떠나보세요 🐾

리딩 전 필수 마음가짐

타로 카드는 미래를 맹목적으로 예측하는 것이 아니라, 스스로를 탐색하고 성장을 돕는 안내자입니다. 리딩을 시작하기 전 아래의 4가지 마음가짐을 기억해 주세요.

개방적인 태도

정해진 답이나 특정 결과만 기대하지 말고, 예상치 못한 통찰과 도전적인 메시지에도 열린 마음을 가지세요.

직관 존중

처음 카드를 볼 때 떠오르는 느낌, 생각, 이미지를 믿으세요. 모호하더라도 내면의 소리를 듣는 것이 중요합니다.

책임감 있는 자세

카드는 통찰을 줄 뿐, 최종 선택과 그에 따른 책임은 온전히 당신의 몫입니다. 타로를 자유 의지를 강화하는 도구로 활용하세요.

객관적인 거리 유지

본인이나 아주 가까운 사람을 리딩할 때는 감정이 개입되기 쉽습니다. 감정이 격해진다면 잠시 쉬거나 타인의 도움을 요청하세요.

타로 카드 실전 플레이 방법

1단계

카드 섞기 (셔플)

질문자의 에너지를 담고 무작위성을 통해 잠재의식을 드러내는 과정입니다.

①

집중 명확하고 구체적인 질문에 마음을 집중합니다.

②

셔플 편안한 방식으로 카드가 골고루 섞이도록 충분히 섞어줍니다.

③

컷팅 다 섞인 카드를 2~3등분으로 나눈 뒤 다시 하나로 합쳐 에너지를 정돈합니다.

2단계

스프레드 (카드 배열)

질문에 맞게 카드를 특정 위치에 배열하여 의미를 해석합니다.

배열 방식	주요 용도	상세 설명 및 적용
1장 뽑기	하루 운세, 예/아니오, 간단한 조언	한 장을 뽑아 핵심 메시지 추출 (오늘의 캐타로, 예/아니오 캐타로)
3장 스프레드	문제의 흐름 파악, 심층적인 조언	왼쪽부터 3장을 배열해 인과관계나 시간 흐름 파악 (사랑 & 관계, 고민 해결 캐타로)

3장 스프레드 위치별 의미 예시

1st

나의 마음 · 현재 심리 상태 · 현 상황

→

2nd

상대방의 마음 · 타인의 관점 · 문제 해결의 장애물

→

3rd

관계의 발전 방향 · 구체적인 해결책 · 미래의 흐름

참고: 5장 스프레드와 같은 복잡한 리딩은 현재 지원하지 않습니다. 5장 리딩이 필요하시다면 아르카나의 기억을 방문해 주세요.

3단계

카드 해석 원칙

카드의 상징과 개인의 직관을 연결하여 종합적으로 이해하는 과정입니다.

직관적 연결

그림을 보고 가장 먼저 드는 직관적 느낌과 연상을 포착하세요.

키워드 적용

카드의 핵심 키워드와 카드가 놓인 자리의 의미를 연결해서 해석하세요.

방향 고려

정방향은 에너지의 긍정적 발현을, 역방향은 지연, 과도함, 왜곡, 내면화 등을 의미할 수 있습니다.

총체적 이해

카드 한 장에만 집중하기보다 전체 카드가 만들어내는 하나의 큰 이야기를 읽어내세요.

사이트 소개

Catarot의 탄생 이야기와 우리의 목표

우리는 복잡한 세상 속에서 길을 잃거나, 중요한 결정 앞에서 망설이는 이들에게 따뜻한 안내자가 되고자 합니다.

우리의 시작: 왜 고양이인가?

고양이는 예로부터 신비롭고 독립적인 존재로 여겨져 왔습니다. 그들은 뛰어난 직관력을 가지고 있으며, 조용히 세상을 관찰하며 자신만의 지혜를 쌓아갑니다. Catarot은 이러한 고양이의 특성을 타로의 신비와 결합하여, 인간의 감정과 이성만으로는 파악하기 어려운 문제들에 대한 새로운 시각을 제시합니다. 고양이의 지혜는 때로는 직접적이고, 때로는 은유적이지만, 항상 당신의 본질적인 질문에 답하고 당신을 올바른 길로 이끌 것입니다.

우리의 목표: 통찰과 위로를 통한 성장

Catarot은 다음과 같은 가치를 실현하고자 합니다:

직관적인 통찰

고양이의 직관처럼, 빠르고 명확한 타로 리딩을 통해 당신의 현재 상황과 미래의 가능성을 밝힙니다.

따뜻한 위로

때로는 냉철한 현실을 마주해야 할 때도 있지만, Catarot은 고양이의 부드러움처럼 당신의 마음을 보듬고 지지합니다.

자기 성장의 동반자

우리는 단순히 답을 제시하는 것을 넘어, 타로 카드를 통해 스스로의 내면을 탐색하고 성장할 수 있도록 돕는 동반자가 되고자 합니다.

살아있는 타로 경험

타로의 세계를 단순히 아는 것을 넘어, 카드와 이야기, 고양이의 상징을 직접 느끼고 경험할 수 있는 콘텐츠를 만날 수 있습니다.

Catarot은 매일의 작은 선택부터 삶의 큰 전환점까지, 당신의 모든 여정에 함께하며 고양이의 지혜로운 눈으로 당신의 길을 밝혀줄 것입니다. 당신의 질문이 무엇이든, 고양이의 신비로운 안내를 통해 해답을 찾고 더욱 풍요로운 삶을 만들어가세요.