The off-and-on-again joke has become shorthand online for the first, simplest step in fixing almost any piece of technology, from a router to a game console. Because the idea is instantly understood, the clip works without context in short videos, streams, and reaction edits, where it is often placed at the moment something stops working. Its extended length gives editors a little more room to time the gag, holding the pause just long enough for the audience to recognise the situation before the restart, or the next joke, arrives.