1. One for the rural Americans among us: how many feral hogs are there, and how long for them to run into your yard while your small kids play?

   1. 20-40; 3-5 minutes

   2. 30-50; 3-5 minutes

   3. 20-50; 2-3 minutes

   4. 30-40; 1-2 minutes

2. 

   The New York Times columnist Bret Stephens invited a Twitter critic to come to his home and call him what to his face?

   1. Wrong

   2. A bad writer

   3. Morally bankrupt

   4. A bedbug

3. 

   What was the hashtag with which New York influencer – and alleged scammer – Caroline Calloway regaled Instagram with stories of her life (and alleged scams)?

   1. #adventuregrams

   2. #nofilter

   3. #instascam

   4. #calloways

4. What filter did a Pakistani official accidentally apply to his face during an official briefing streamed via Facebook?

   1. Plastic surgery-style beautifying filter

   2. Cat ears

   3. A lolling dog tongue

   4. Hearts-for-eyes

5. 

   Why did millions of people say on Facebook they would storm the Area 51 military base?

   1. They wanted to see them aliens

   2. They were directed there by a cryptic clue on an Aphex Twin album cover

   3. They were protesting government surveillance

   4. They were looking for marijuana, with “Area 51” slang for cannabis

6. 

   Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road became a viral hit on TikTok as the soundtrack to users drinking “yee yee juice”. Per the meme, what does drinking said juice do?

   1. Transforms you into a cowboy

   2. Perfects your lasso aim

   3. Gives you the voice of Billy Ray Cyrus

   4. Puts the horses in the back

7. “OK boomer” entered the cultural lexicon as Generation Z’s devastating dismissal of older people on the internet. Which of the below is not true of the online riposte?

   1. It was deployed by a millennial MP during a speech about climate change

   2. Fox filed a trademark application to use it as the premise and title of a TV show

   3. “OK boomer” merchandise, including phone cases and sweatshirts, was sold online

   4. Athletics brand Puma launched a line of trainers with the slogan “OK Puma”

8. “LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH!” tweeted President Trump. What was the photograph of?

   1. Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger

   2. Trump meeting with Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, holding printed-out tweets

   3. Potus – photoshopped to have more hair – with his wife, Melania

   4. Barack Obama travelling by private jet while campaigning for environmental awareness

9. What did the Bird Box challenge you to do?

   1. Catch a pigeon in a box

   2. Attempt challenging tasks while blindfolded

   3. Compete to hold each other’s eyes open for longest

   4. Harass people eating chips by flapping your arms like wings

10. The “Momo challenge” sparked a moral panic that children were being driven to harm themselves online, but was quickly proved a hoax. What was the unsettling Momo image actually of?

    1. A still from an upcoming horror film

    2. A Photoshopped image of a little girl

    3. A sculpture by a Japanese artist

    4. A character from the “creepypasta” internet subculture

11. 

    What moment of Meryl Streep’s star turn in the second season of Big Little Lies was made into a meme?

    1. Her awkwardly handling an iPad

    2. Her sinister stare across the dancefloor at a party

    3. Her screaming at the kitchen table

    4. Her withering putdown of Reese Witherspoon’s character, Madeleine

12. Andy King, event producer of the Fyre festival, was the unexpected highlight of Netflix’s documentary – and hailed a hero by the internet. What was he prepared to do to save the disastrous event?

    1. Trade sexual favours to release drinking water seized by customs

    2. Give stranded influencers his MediVac tent and sleep outside himself

    3. Bail out founding fraudster Billy McFarland with his son’s college fund

    4. Take over the entire catering operation himself with 50kg of beef mince

Solutions

1:B - That was how William McNabb of Arkansas succinctly and memorably voiced his opposition to gun control on Twitter in August, prompting 24 hours of gleeful memes on Twitter., 2:D - Following news of a reported infestation in the New York Times offices in August, an academic joked that “the bedbugs are Bret Stephens”. Free-speech advocate Stephens found the tweet, emailed the academic (copying in his employer), then quit Twitter., 3:A - In September, New York magazine’s The Cut published a long personal essay about Calloway by her former friend that set social media abuzz., 4:B - “Human error” by a “hardworking volunteer” was blamed for veteran journalist Shaukat Yousafzai and other officials appearing as cats during the party conference livestream in June., 5:A - A Facebook event organising for people to run into the remote US air force test site, the site of many alien conspiracy theories, went viral in June. “They can’t stop all of us,” it read. About 100 people showed up at the gate., 6:A - The song was a meme before it was a smash hit, with Lil Nas X crediting Tik Tok with its success., 7:D - The MP Chloe Swarbrick used the phrase in response to being heckled during a speech in a sitting of the New Zealand parliament in November., 8:A - In October Trump tweeted the Nickelback “Photograph” meme promoting discredited corruption claims against Democratic candidate Joe Biden – much to the band’s dismay , 9:B - Inspired by the Netflix thriller of the same name, people filmed themselves competing everyday tasks blindfolded, prompting the streaming platform to issue a warning., 10:C - After an image of his sculpture – of a girl-like monster – was used in the viral hoax, artist Keisuke Aiso announced that the artwork had been destroyed the previous year., 11:C - The abrupt guttural scream of Streep’s character, Mary Louise Wright, was dubbed the “song of the summer” in June., 12:A - Though King was not, in the event, required to perform a sex act, he was praised across the world for his readiness to go above and beyond in order to save the festival.

Scores

1. 5 and above.

   Middling. We assume you have a rich and fulfilling offline life. You do, right?

2. 8 and above.

   Pretty good – you can be proud of yourself ... if you think spending so much time online is something to be proud of

3. 12 and above.

   You need to get outside more – that level of internet knowledge is unhealthy

4. 0 and above.

   Did you actually go online this year? How did you even find this quiz?