This is dated 2017, so must have been through a few phone-to-phone days transfers to be on my current one.

But in my main store of files that's synced across machines, I have this from 1999

Memes were still finding their feet back then.

This one occasionally comes in handy:

idk if it counts as a meme, but I downloaded this image a long while ago to make memes with it. Thus, the oldest meme in my gallery. It probably isn't that old anyways

I downloaded this from Reddit on 6/22/12:

Specially good for when people comes up with serious BS

File date says May 2003. I converted it from wmv to mp4 for your convenience.

I'm a feminist but I still can take a good joke. Had this for at least 8 years. Put it on my new phones and send it to new friends when I get them

Metadata on this one shows June 2020 (I've had it since at least 2015 tho)

Downloaded this one as a contact photo.

MARILIZE LEGAJUANA

2015

i make memes and drop them into the void, no save button

Dated to 2018

This, apparently:

And this is the second oldest:

Google photos has a date tag attached to this of 9/10/2008

A whole lot of stuff has traveled with me through the years swapping SD cards from one phone to another, and eventually things getting backed up to the cloud, etc. this is probably the oldest thing I have saved that can count as a meme. I don't know if that date is when I actually first found it, when it first somehow got backed up, if maybe that's just from some metadata left over from whoever made the meme originally, or something else entirely

But that date does generally feel about right, and the humor feels about right for high school-aged me.

Probably this one:

(Also smart move to get some classic memes)

This is a screenshot dated 2013, but it could also be a copy of an older screenshot. I would normally crop it, but I also feel weirdly nostalgic about the old UI.

From December 2021

just the audio of this masterpiece

I didn't realize so many people stored memes on their phones

Slumber Hulk (2004)

smartphones and memes. two things I avoid like the plague.

i don't have any memes on my phone. never have, never will.