This content has been automatically translated from Ukrainian.
The man squints a little, smiles, and touches his temple with his finger — this gesture is enough to understand the joke. It’s like: “Think about it”, “see how clever?” or “brilliant plan, if you don’t think about it too long.”
This meme is often searched for under the query Think about it, although its real name in English-speaking internet culture is Roll Safe. The phrase think about it literally means “think about it” or “consider it,” but in the context of the meme, it takes on an ironic tone: it presents what seems to be a very smart thought, which actually has an obvious logical flaw.
Who is depicted in the meme
In the famous shot — British actor and writer Kayode Ewumi as the character Reece Simpson, known as R.S. or Roll Safe.
The character appeared in the comedy web series #HoodDocumentary, which Ewumi created together with director Tyrell Williams. Later, the project received a continuation on BBC Three.
Roll Safe is a confident young man who loves to ponder life and often presents dubious thoughts as if he has just formulated something extremely wise.
This trait of the character became the basis for the future meme.
Where the shot with the finger by the temple comes from
The image comes from one of the episodes of #HoodDocumentary. In the scene, Roll Safe talks about a girl named Rachel and during his line, he touches his temple with his finger, showing satisfaction with his own wit.
The separate shot turned out to be much more universal than the original joke. Out of context, it looks as if the character has just come up with a clever plan and is inviting his interlocutor to appreciate his logic.
At the end of 2016, the image began to be used on Twitter, and by early 2017, Roll Safe had become one of the prominent meme formats. The history of its spread is documented in Know Your Meme.
What the meme means
The classic Roll Safe is built on a pseudo-logical solution to a problem.
For example:
“You can’t fail the exam if you don’t go to it.”
Or:
“The phone won’t run out of battery from use if you don’t use it.”
Formally, there is some logic here, but the problem is not actually solved. It is simply circumvented in such an absurd way that this becomes the source of humor.
Therefore, Roll Safe is not just a meme with the meaning of “I’m smart.” On the contrary, it often mocks overconfident pseudo-intellectual reasoning, where an obviously bad idea is presented as a brilliant life hack.
The format works particularly well with constructions like:
“You can’t have X if you do Y.”
The finger by the temple completes the joke: the character is so pleased with his logic that he seems to invite everyone else to think about it again.
Why the meme is called Think about it
Think about it is not the original name of the meme. It is rather a phrase that naturally associates with the character's gesture.
The English Think about it translates as “think about it”, “ponder” or “consider.” In ordinary conversation, this phrase can be quite serious, but alongside Roll Safe, it reads ironically: “Come on, think about how brilliant my plan is.”
That’s why the image is often searched for as think about it meme, guy pointing at head meme or thinking meme, although the established name of the format itself is Roll Safe.
How Roll Safe became part of internet culture
The success of the meme is largely explained by the simplicity of its construction. For the joke, you don’t need to know the character, watch the original series, or understand the initial scene. It’s enough to see the self-satisfied smile and the finger by the temple.
Thus, Roll Safe quickly transformed from a frame of a British web series into a universal reaction to dubious advice, failed life hacks, and one’s own “brilliant” solutions.
The meme also well illustrates how internet culture works in general. A separate shot is detached from the original plot, users give it new meaning, and after a while, this meaning becomes clear even to people who have never seen the original source.
In #HoodDocumentary, it was a gesture of a specific character in a specific scene. On the internet, it turned into a short visual way to say: “This is a flawless plan — if you don’t think about it for more than a few seconds.”
