Communications majors have it rough. We’re tired of people telling us what we study is stupid, when they don’t even understand the field. Here’s a list of funny, cringe-worthy situations we’ve all been through, with an extra dish of inside jokes that only Communications people will understand. And memes.

1. “So can you communicate really well?”

What kind of question is that?

2. Your friends refuse to watch movies with you because you’d just ruin the entire film by talking about the camera techniques

Movies are life, okay?

3. … also that specific plotline doesn’t work cohesively in the grander scheme of the script

But sure, Becky, I’ll be quiet from now on

4. No matter the question, Teddy Adorno is always the answer

It’s all the culture industry’s fault. The German philosopher is perhaps the most important theorist you’ll study in your career. It’s because of him that you’re an expert on the exploitation of cultural content in capitalist societies.

5. The medium is the message. Enough said.

What you will always remember about Marshall McLuhan. This guy predicted the advent of world wide web thirty years before it came to be, and a nice catchphrase is all we remember about him?

6. When people talk about the one film you haven’t seen and they go, “Wait, how haven’t you seen this? You’re a Com major!”

You can’t be expected to have seen every film ever produced.

7. Every single argument you have ends up with you passionately talking about Karl Marx

He’s ever-present. (And somehow, you always end up explaining that no, he is not Santa Claus)

8. When somebody asks you for a short summary of a show and you inevitably talk for hours about the media studies theories that are applied and how and why it fits into the genre

Sorry.

9. Once you go post-modernism, you never go back.

It’s a fact. Relativism, deconstruction, self-referentiality, skepticism, lack of structures…my life changed after I read Jameson, Derrida, and Lyotard. Plus, they paved the way for feminist and post-colonial theory.

10. “I’m confused… what can you do after you graduate with a BA in Communications? I mean we all know how to communicate.”

How do you even respond to that?

11. Black Mirror isn’t your favorite show because you already cover all the dystopian consequences of technology in class

And it’s not even remotely funny.

12. Rolling your eyes every time a non-Com person asks you what exactly media studies is

Just Google it, okay?

13. Eternally cringing when somebody says “mediums” or “medias”

Media is the plural of medium. End of story.

14. “So do you just watch movies in class all day?”

We’ve got more important things to do.

15. You say self-reflexivity at least three times a day

Self-reflexivity is inescapable.

16. Social media is not just for fun, it’s coursework

There are actual theories and strategies that need to be studied, okay!

17. “You do TV too? I thought you studied journalism?”

What part of multi-disciplinary is so hard to understand?

18. When the only way you can effectively explain Guy Debord’s Theory of the Spectacle to a non-Com person is the Matrix

It’s everywhere, we are immersed in it and we can’t see it.

19. You take memes very seriously

Viral phenomena are extremely serious. I’ve even taken a class that was dedicated entirely to the academic understanding and experimental creation of memes.

20. The best part is that you get to study fandoms from an academic perspective

All your fangirl experience actually amounts to something.

21. No matter what the future brings, you’ll have the brightest career because your education has been well-rounded and multi-disciplinary with the perfect mix of theory and practice

With a Communications education, you can pretty much get any job you want. Good luck!