Here's why the internet keeps telling people to look at their keyboards
Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images
- A new social media trend is urging users to "look between" certain letters on their keyboard.
- People are spelling out messages like "U," "WE," and "JK" in all sorts of different contexts.
- Not everyone is thrilled about the trend, and some are calling it engagement bait.
If you've been on social media at all recently, chances are you've been opening your keyboard more than usual.
That's because of a new trend that is enthralling — and irritating — thousands of users on X and other similar platforms.
The trend, which urges users to "look between" certain letters on your keyboard, apparently originated with a post on 4chan in May 2021 according to a submission to Know Your Meme. That post included a picture of Yui Hirasawa, the main character of a popular anime series, along with the caption "look between t and o" on your keyboard, yielding the character's first name.
It's not clear how that post led to the trend exploding years later — but with viral memes like this, stranger things have happened.
Many of the posts start with an unlikely or outlandish detail and then tell you to look between the H and L keys, which falls on the letters "JK" — in other words, "just kidding."
cheaters will tell you they love you and then their actions tell you to look between h and l on your keyboard.
— Kemi Marie (they/them) (@kemimarie) April 22, 2024
Want to know who we're drafting?
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 23, 2024
Look between H and L on your keyboard.
But others are using it in more creative ways — everything from labeling their favorite sports players a "G" (for "GOAT", or Greatest of All Time) to filling in the words of Jesus. Brands have even gotten in on the trend to promote their own products.
Some on social media have used it as a tongue-in-cheek way of spreading positive or motivational messages.
look between Q and E on your keyboard. that's all we baggin' this year, trust
— ً (@ahdebee) April 21, 2024
look between Y and I on your keyboard, that’s all I want.
— ???? (@cryarhahai) April 22, 2024
to all my homies who stuck by my side, look between r and u on the keypad mwah
— coldplay wifey (@tanishaitaan) April 22, 2024
But more than a few posts that have jumped on the trend for sillier purposes:
Applicant: "I want to break the record for the longest time without sleep!!"
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) April 23, 2024
Us: Look between T and U on your keyboard
Waiter: What'd you like to have?
— Halal Meme Wala (Retired) (@YoursMemely) April 22, 2024
"Look between R and Y on your keyboard"
“Can i use the toilet"
— AYO!???? (@Iamkira_3) April 22, 2024
Normal teachers: Yes.
French teachers: Look between Q and R on your keyboard.
me: *confesses my love in an epistle
— ً (@ahdebee) April 21, 2024
my crush: look between J and L on your keyboard
That doesn't mean the trend is popular with everyone. In fact, many people seem to have gotten annoyed by it pretty quickly.
Some online have suggested that the trend is "engagement bait," claiming that when you click the reply button to check your keyboard, it is read by the X algorithm as an engagement with the original post — even if you don't actually reply.
(It's unclear if that's actually how the algorithm actually works; X did not return a request for comment)
In any case, there are plenty of users who are tired of looking at their keyboards.
Answer is “it makes no sense” ????
— Erica Nlewedim⭐️ (@EricaNlewedim) April 22, 2024
“look between _ and _ on your keyboard” shut up & think about your life, do you even have a (look between X and B) ????????
— .???????????????????????? (@TGM_007) April 22, 2024
look between—pic.twitter.com/VQ45WdqHad
— byeol⁷ ིྀ | ia (@minieslildimple) April 23, 2024