This assignment was very different from anything we had done before, because it focused on cats! It started out by learning about the pre-Internet history of the public’s use of cats for emotional engagement by reading a couple articles showcasing Kittens and Cats: A First Reader (1911), as well as the “Hang in There, Baby” cat posters. After this, we learned about some famous internet cat personalities by watching Keyboard Cat and Grumpy Cat videos, browsing through the LOL Cats website, and looking at the “I Can Has Cheezburger” photo.
After this, we had to read a handful of articles that describe theories of why there are so many photos, gifs, and videos of cats on the Internet – and why Internet-users get so much emotional pleasure from watching and sharing photos, gifs, and videos of cats. Finally, we had to create a discussion board post, identifying and describing one of the hypotheses, state if we agree with it, and state if it is scientifically testable.
For my hypothesis, I found one from Elizabeth Fish article, who identified 4 potential hypotheses in the article “Why Does The Internet Love Cats?”. The one hypothesis that stuck out to me was fairly simple, that “Cats Outnumber Dogs”. This is pretty straightforward, it means that more cats are owned as pets than dogs are.
I do agree with this hypothesis. Fish references the results of a 2011-2012 survey that indicated that there are 86.4 million cats kept as pets in the US, whereas there are only 78.2 million dogs kept as pets. This is pretty easy to agree with because it is a fact, as people completed the surveys themselves.
I know that is has been 7 or 8 years since this survey, so the results could have changed by now. Additionally, self-report measures aren’t always perfectly accurate. However, even though these 2 things can challenge the finding, it is still likely to be pretty accurate and representative of the truth.
The hypothesis that there are more cats than dogs is certainly testable, all that this would require is to send out another mass survey throughout the country to see if the results still apply today. After everyone filled out the survey, the total number of cats as pets can be compared to the total number of dogs as pets. However, if the question is “Cats outnumber dogs, is this the reason why they are so popular on the internet?”, there is no way that I can think of to scientifically test that as being the main reason why.
Reflecting on this assignment, I thought it was awesome, primarily because it was based on a fun, lighthearted topic. Cats are cute and funny, and also very prevalent on the internet, so it was great to complete an assignment that revolved around them. Assignments that are both fun and applicable are rare in my opinion, so it was great to experience it with this one!
Additionally, even though I already knew a lot about cats on the internet in the modern day, I did not previously know about cats before the internet. I did not know about public’s use of cats for emotional engagement before the internet, but the first couple of articles touched on that, so I learned something new.
Also, it was funny to look through all the different theories and hypotheses about why cats are so popular on the internet. There were some that were very obvious, but some I really was not expecting, and that made me chuckle a little bit. It gave me an insight into how different people think about the topic, which was cool because I really do not think about this topic that often!
Overall, I am very thankful for this assignment. The choice to include this allowed the students to have some fun and take a bit of a break from serious subjects, but still learn and work on different skills. I wonder if there will be any other assignments like this throughout the course, and if so, I am looking forward to completing them!
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