The sad hamster TikTok meme explained

If you’ve been on TikTok lately, chances are you will have seen the sad hamster meme appearing in videos, but what is the sad hamster meme and why it is popular on the platform?

Trends and memes tend to spread on TikTok very fast, with the “All that work and what did it get me” trend also becoming a recent favourite among the mostly Gen Z users.

Now is the turn of the sad hamster meme, which has been featured in videos along with sad violin music in the background, that many people will recognise as the song played by Mr Krabs on the “world’s smallest violin” in SpongeBob SquarePants.

It has been shared on YouTube and X/Twitter, and now it is also being used in TikTok videos, too.

The tiny hamster in question has large sad-looking eyes and has been used by TikTokers in videos in reaction to something difficult or overwhelming that they feel unable to achieve.

In one TikTok, a person used the sad hamster meme in the context of being at university, when a lecturer suggests that what they are learning should be “common sense” by now.

Another captioned their video, “I’m just a baby” and used the sad hamster meme to represent themselves as they waited for their mother to describe what is wrong with them to medical professionals.

The sad hamster meme has essentially become a way for TikTokers to show that life is quite hard and we all feel like a sad, small, defenceless hamster sometimes.

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