Strong link between ‘vehicles or animals’ as profile pictures, and not understanding satire, a new study reveals

A stunning report from the CSIRO has been released today, giving some insights into social science regarding Facebook users.

“A user with a profile picture that features not themselves, but rather a vehicle or an animal, is up to 80% more likely to not understand satire.”

“It’s been a phenomenon for a while, and I’m sure many have already noticed this,” said Dr Jo King, head of the study. “The people that don’t use a personal picture, and instead opt for their car, truck, bike, or their pet, are for some reason unable to process the idea of satire.”

Satire is a type of parodical art, where the writer uses humour to ridicule or make fun of a particular topic. To understand satire, the reader is required to apply a little bit of critical thinking to be able to analyse if the information is legitimate or satirical. It is this element of critical thinking that seems to easily escape those who avoid using a personal profile picture.

“Now that we’ve done this study, our next goal is to work out how it’s connected. What is the link between these profile pictures and lack of critical thinking?” Dr King continued.

“There is still hope for them though. Those with animal pictures have a higher chance of understanding once it’s explained to them, where cars are a lot less likely. A picture of a truck is the worst offender, from our testing we’ve been completely unsuccessful in getting them to understand the concept of satire.

“We haven’t even attempted explaining satire to those who use a picture of a skeleton giving the middle finger or a low resolution jpg of the Australian flag, at that point they’re just too far gone.”

The Riverlanderer will update as this story develops.