Humans seem to possess some sort of instinct that pushes us to tell stories. We harnessed the power of language to evoke powerful emotions; we took the camera and made blockbuster movies; we picked up a brush and painted masterpieces. The most popular medium for storytelling right now seems to be TV shows. Shorter than a movie yet just as engaging, they’re pretty much just incubators for fandoms.

Out of sheer curiosity, we decided to poll the student body on their favorite shows. As seen in the pie chart, the top two shows were “The Office” and “Friends.” In response to why those shows were their favorite, students said the quality that made the shows great was humor.

“Okay,” you say, dubiousness written all over your face. “What’s so revealing about that? Seems pretty obvious.”

What’s revealing about this is it shows just how deep the human desire to tell stories is. What are stories for, after all? They’re really just manifestations of our imaginations. Stories can build entire universes, or they can focus on, say, a small group of six friends. Stories are the parts of our imagination that we can revisit time and time again without the fear of forgetting anything.

That’s not all, though. There are good stories and bad stories – and, according to the poll, humor is a significant contributor when it comes to how “good” a story is. At least, it is when it comes to high schoolers.

After all, in a world with so little light, who wouldn’t want to waste the day away with Dwight and Michael?