News told in a humorous rather than serious way are remembered better and more likely to be passed around, a recent study found.

Humour helps to deliver news

Young people tend to shy away from politics and therefore miss a lot of important news. But there is a way to get them engaged, according to a recent study: Tell it with humour.

Being uninformed about important political developments shaping the society makes people more involved, but serious news aren’t likely to engage the younger audience.

A group of researchers from the universities of Ohio and Pennsylvania discovered that young adults remember the news stories better when they are told with a bit of humour. The change of them passing the news item to friends is also higher in this case.

Apparently, humour makes news more socially relevant, therefore the chance of people sharing it with others increases.

In the study, participants aged 18-34 (so called “millennials” or “Generation Z”) were watching news clips. Some of these stories included jokes while others didn’t. In addition, participants’ brain activity was recorded by fMRI.

Following that, scientists tested how much participants remembered about the stories they’ve just seen. The respondents also were asked whether they would share the story with friends on social media.

All the stories included information about the government’s policies and news in politics.

When researchers reviewed the results, it was obvious that humorously presented stories were more memorable. The participants also indicated they would be more likely to share humorous stories on social media.

Looking at the results of fMRI, researchers noticed a greater activity in brain regions that are linked to thinking about other people’s opinions (social engagement), when humorous stories were watched. Scientists pointed out that comedy is social in nature.

Humour helps to deliver news

Can humour help your communication?

In dating online, “great sense of humour” used to be a popular requirement to a potential partner. Many people still feel that laughing at the same joked is important when you talk about a potential for a life-time partnership.

In international dating, telling jokes may seem more challenging due to different cultural paradigms. Oftentimes self-deprecating humour that gets thumbs up in local dating may be seen as weird and inappropriate by people from Russia, where people are more self-conscious and driven by tradition.

Joking about one’s own faults or goofs isn’t typical in Russia, where humour tends to be more satirical or dark.

Joking about anything related to Russia or Russian culture is also likely to land poorly. What about the word play, people who don’t speak the language fluently are unlikely to get them and may feel annoyed for not being able to see the humour.

What kind of jokes could be accepted well by Russians?

• Jokes about western cultural traditions (you cannot joke about her way of life, but you are welcome to make fun of the cultural traditions of your country).
• Online dating (if this is how you met), the type of people (no names) that you sometimes may meet, whether locally or internationally.
• Your country’s politics (not her country’s politics), as long as they don’t promote one side’s view vs. the other, but look at the situation as a whole.
• Pandemics and quarantine — we are all in the same boat and you can compare notes.

Laughter releases hormones that make us feel happy and elated, and this is why it helps you communication if you can crack a joke now and then. As usual, see what works and use more of it!

Read also:

• Where do Ukrainians find out latest news?
• Fake news travel faster
• Most popular social networks in Russia
• These videos get most views on Russian YouTube