The ‘what kind of lamp are you’ craze is 2020’s best internet distraction
Ever wondered what kind of lamp you are?
Chances are you haven’t, but — aren’t you curious now?
@WhatLampYouAre has you covered. The page, with more than 300 followers, features photos of lamps matched with people’s names. It’s just the latest way people are distracting themselves online during the seemingly endless pandemic lockdown on the heels of 2020’s absurd cake meme.
And what started as a joke quickly picked up speed as a top internet meme this week, which its creator Caroline Cianci didn’t expect.
Inspired by the account @whatdogyouare page, which has 124,000 followers, the 23-year-old New York City native began the page merely four days ago.
“Everybody loves dogs and dog memes and no one will get upset at the dog they get, but what about something stupid and mundane like a lamp?” she told The Post via email. “Turns out people like anything with their name on it.”
Cianci’s profile is among the many that have appeared on Instagram lately, with pages that match people’s names with fish, frogs, chickens and cows. In the beginning, she said she tried to match the photos with people’s “vibes,” but eventually it spiraled into her “finding psychotic, weird lamps” and just assigning them a name.
While most people are delighted to find the animal, or object, that matches their personality, some don’t find the humor in it. Cianci receives close to 75 submissions a day, and said that some people request to change the lamp they’re associated with, or request a particular photo, which she doesn’t appreciate.
One girl requested that she would be a disco ball, to which Cianci responded by naming a terrifying doll lamp after her instead.
im sry i couldn’t respond to ur text I started a joke “what lamp are you” insta account and now I’m in over my head and an 11 year old girl named Ava is mad at me cus I chose a creepy clown lamp for her name :-/
— Caroline Cianci (@carolinnycianci) July 13, 2020
Overall, though, Cianci said her messages are just full of people who want to see their names associated with something fun, and she finds joy in the ability to provide that for them.
“I really enjoy when people get the ‘joke’ behind my page. Like, this isn’t supposed to be pretty or cute, it’s just a weird, blurry picture of a lamp with your name,” she said. “It’s nice when we all can laugh at the silliness of it together.”