First World Problems Meme Template

A tearful face treats a small inconvenience as a catastrophe. Start with something comfortable or fortunate, then reveal the absurdly minor downside that has ruined your day.

The joke is in the mismatch between the complaint and the expression. Having too many shows to watch or waiting for a heated seat to warm up becomes a reason for despair.

It usually works best as a joke about your own fussiness. The first line establishes what you already have; the second shows how little it takes to make you complain.

The woman is actor Silvia Bottini. In a 2021 interview, she described posing for a stock-photo shoot at a temple in Shanghai in 2008. She was asked to cry for the camera; the picture was not a candid record of the complaints later written on it. [1]

The image became the First World Problems caption format in 2011. Bottini has since made work about her experience of becoming a meme, including a short film and a proposed web series in which she plays herself. [1] [2]

Put the comfortable situation at the top and the inconvenience at the bottom. The second line should change how readers interpret the apparent distress.

Use a specific nuisance rather than simply saying life is hard. A remote that is out of reach says more than a general complaint about being tired.

What is going well

At the top of the photograph, above the eyes.

The tiny problem

At the bottom of the photograph, below the mouth.

• Keep the setup and complaint short enough to read together.
• Make the comfort or privilege clear in the first line.
• Let the complaint expose the speaker’s fussiness.
• Leave the eyes and mouth visible between the captions.