Often, wholesomeness hits that much harder when we least expect it. It’s an unfortunate reality, that interacting with a business can be exhausting and time-consuming, when it comes to refunds, sorting out shipping issues and replacements, and any other customer service topics. So when a company makes “going above and beyond” not just the purview of a hardworking employee, but policy, people tend to notice. 

Take Zappos, the American online shoe and clothing retailer. Beyond a commitment to customer convenience, like a 365-day return policy and free shipping on a number of transactions, the company rewards workers who go the extra mile for their customers. For example, they reportedly had a 10:29 hour customer service call, when a client forgot about a return request when a loved one unexpectedly passed. Zappos sent a replacement for free and some flowers, after waiting on the line. 

Even the non-human world is actually full of wholesome moments if you just know where to look. The animal kingdom, for example, is chock full of things that make us go “aww,” but most people stop at kittens and puppies. But all sorts of animals do things that are both fascinating and deeply cute. Otters holding hands is a classic, but did you know that honey bees have dance-offs? 

Cows also maintain friendships and like to hang out with their best friends whenever they can. Even more committed, penguins, along with a lot of other birds, mate for life, and will even “propose” to a mate, often with a pebble. Of course, some birds really do take it to the extreme when it comes to impressing a potential mate, for example, building art displayed, fighting rivals, or even very intense forms of dance. 

Squirrels and bats both have social systems to take care of orphans. Squirrels will adopt babies whose parents have died and carry them around like their own offspring. Various species of bats do the same, while the most organized version are “bat orphanages,” where groups of bats roost together and females come to feed orphaned babies. These are highly social animals with a pretty advanced solution to this problem. 

There are countless other examples of things, creatures, and even people that are and act wholesome, an emotion that makes us happy and shows us that there is something good in the world. For all the chaos and negativity on the internet (and, really, everywhere,) digital communication lets us spread these ideas and images. In a sense, it promotes wholesomeness, as often selfless behavior goes unrewarded and unseen.

The human need for this sort of content is reflected in the trends we see on TikTok, Twitter, and yes, even here on Bored Panda. Wholesome, joyful images, memes, and stories are all a salve against doom-scrolling and other words we use to describe the omnipresence of negative content, fear-mongering, and rage bait. The ubiquity and common, everyday use of those words shows just how far “internet negativity” has penetrated our collective psychology.