Discord launched in 2015 as a voice and text chat platform for gaming communities, before growing into a much wider app for friends, creators and study groups. Its short notification ping became familiar as millions of users kept the app open during games, streams and late-night chats, and the sound soon travelled beyond the app itself. Editors began lifting it into videos and memes as shorthand for an incoming message, because viewers recognise it instantly even without seeing a phone on screen.