# Mom? Dad? Friends?
Mom? Dad? Friends? is an image macro built on a 1996 Jean-Baptiste Monge illustration of a lonely little creature calling into empty darkness. Reddit surfaced it in late 2011 as a lament for internet outages and final-exam isolation, and it turned into a go-to reaction image for anyone feeling forgotten by the outside world.
## Origin
The underlying artwork was created by illustrator Jean-Baptiste Monge in 1996 as part of his book Halloween[2]. It sat online for over a decade before Redditor masterilly posted the image on /r/funny on September 29, 2011, in a thread titled "Internet disconnection," which pulled in more than 10,700 upvotes and 270 comments before being archived[1].
The caption format that stuck came a few months later. On December 11, 2011, Redditor screwmaths submitted the first true image macro version to /r/funny, using the drawing to joke about how college students vanish from social life during final exam weeks[3]. That framing gave the picture a reusable punchline instead of a one-off gag.
- **Platform:** Jean-Baptiste Monge illustration (source) / Reddit (viral spread)
- **Creator:** Jean-Baptiste Monge (artwork), Redditor screwmaths (image macro)
- **Date:** 2011
## Overview
Mom? Dad? Friends?, also called Mom Dad Friends Anyone, is a Reddit-born image macro that pairs a forlorn little creature with a caption calling out for anyone at all[1]. The character comes from a fantasy illustration by French artist Jean-Baptiste Monge, drawn for his 1996 book Halloween, in which the tiny figure stands alone in a dark, empty space[2].
The joke works because the picture already looks pitiful before any text is added. Captions typically list a descending chain of people the poster hopes will show up, ending on the punchline that nobody does[3]. Common versions cover disconnected Wi-Fi, empty inboxes, the end of a semester emptying out a dorm hall, or a birthday nobody remembered[4].
## How It Spread
After screwmaths' post, the finals-week angle spread quickly on Reddit during December 2011, when the timing matched the actual end-of-semester crunch at most US universities[3]. The template moved off Reddit within weeks and landed on general humor sites, with copies appearing on Quickmeme[5] and 9GAG[6].
Pinterest picked it up as a shareable reaction image, giving it a longer tail outside the meme-dump ecosystem[7]. A follow-up /r/funny thread on January 18, 2012, reused the format to riff on the SOPA-related Wikipedia blackout that day, showing how quickly people were bolting new topical captions onto the same picture[4].
The image kept circulating for years as a general-purpose loneliness reaction, with the original 1996 Monge illustration eventually credited on Know Your Meme's entry for the format[1].
## How to Use
The template typically stacks a list of increasingly desperate call-outs over the illustration, like "Mom? Dad? Friends? Anyone?" A common convention is to swap the list for a specific situation where the poster feels ignored, such as an empty group chat, a dead server, or a canceled plan. The joke often lands hardest when the setup is mundane and the character's tiny, hopeful pose does the emotional work.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is Mom? Dad? Friends??
It is a Reddit image macro that uses a lonely fantasy character illustrated by Jean-Baptiste Monge to joke about being ignored or isolated[1].
### Where did Mom? Dad? Friends? come from?
The picture is from Jean-Baptiste Monge's 1996 book Halloween, and Redditor masterilly first posted it on /r/funny on September 29, 2011[1][2].
### What does Mom? Dad? Friends? mean?
It expresses the feeling of calling out for someone, anyone, and getting no response, often framed around finals week, internet outages, or being socially forgotten[3].
### How do you use Mom? Dad? Friends??
Add a caption over the illustration that lists people or things the character is hoping will show up, ending on the joke that nobody does[3].
### Is Mom? Dad? Friends? still popular?
It is a classic Reddit reaction image from 2011 that kept circulating on aggregators like 9GAG and Pinterest well after its original run[6][7].
## References
1. [https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/kx4vw/internet_disconnection/]()
2. [https://www.jbmonge.com/]()
3. [https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/nifw4/anyone/]()
4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/ompbx/what_happens_on_january_18th/]()
5. [https://www.quickmeme.com/Mom-Dad-Friends]()
6. [https://9gag.com/tag/mom-dad-friends]()
7. [https://www.pinterest.com/pin/mom-dad-friends/]()
8. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/mom-dad-friends-anyone]()
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Source: https://meme.com/memes/mom-dad-friends
Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library