Scholar-Do: The Me-Me Generation

Communication through Memes

Question 1: What is a meme?

A meme is a basic cultural ideal or symbol that can be transmitted from person to person. Memes have always surrounded us in the forms of catchphrases, clichés, and anything to describe a non-literal cultural ideal.

Question 2: How is that different than an internet meme?

The word meme has been appropriated and redefined for contemporary internet culture. An internet meme is an idea, style, or action, generally based on mimicry that is spread from person to person via the internet. Memes are not always mocking or malicious in nature, in fact memes have spread everything from fads and trends (remember planking?) to helping to spread social awareness. The meme is the ultimate example of visual communication to date. Why? Decreased attention spans in the populace for information absorption (The Guardian does a nice article on the subject here.)

Visual communication is important. There is no doubt that words are effective, but the age old epitaph that a picture is worth one-thousand of them isn’t just a clever turn of phrase. There is a reason that the television replaced the radio and the camera phone replaced the phone. Social and visual media are becoming increasingly accessible to the general public and the technology to utilize photo and video for communication is present on a device most adults (and even children) carry every moment of the day. Images are eye catching. A person is more drawn to the sight of a flower than a written, or even spoken, description of one. Even now as you are reading this section of the article I am willing to bet that you keep getting distracted by Xzibit telling you about how I’m using visual communication in this piece. Some will claim that the advance in technology and an increasingly digitally dependent society is ruining discourse and the art of the argument and is therefore leading us down a dangerous path of self-reinforced ignorance. Why should I waste my time with rhetoric when I can have a witty phrase on a funny picture convey my thoughts so succinctly?

As an avid internet user I have seen the use of memes to bring humor with a simple joke, or pop culture twist. I have seen memes used to spread a quick thought on a pressing issue in such a way that would make you think and want to investigate into the issue further (albeit, not many). I have also seen it used to spread very negative messages (there are tons in the theist vs. atheist and liberal vs. conservative arenas). The last of these is often one of the largest portions of meme communication on the internet.

So, how effective is it to spread an idea with an image and a quick one liner?

Let’s look at an example.

So this is effective criticism, right? I would argue that it is, if you are the target audience for the message. If you are actually supporters of the subject, you instantly feel defensive and as if your beliefs are under attack.

Whereas something like this may cause you to stop and think.

Are these effective? Are they appropriate or politically correct in any way? The internet is this massive morally grey zone of information. The only thing for sure is that memes catch a persons attention.

Why are memes important to the future of communication?

Memes give people a framework to speak their minds. Even though technology for visual communication is becoming easier to use and more accessible to the public, it is still in the realm of “new”. Even though it is easily accessible there is still the smallest bit of anxiety in the general public over visual communication; we all know we want to join in on it, but we aren't always sure how. That's why the internet is flooded with "selfies", pictures of food, pictures of cats, and memes. The meme gives pre-generated images and accepted guidelines for how to construct the message (“Not sure if”, “Brace yourselves”, etc.) lending to a bit of alleviated anxiety. There are even several websites that serve to make these memes by the user simply searching for the image and typing their message into the boxes provided.

How effective are memes?

We all know what the following image means and what comes next. How do we know? We've all seen the commercials on television and have that image committed to memory. Simply by showing the image and alluding to what is said in the commercial we instantly convey information (albeit in a slightly humorous way).

Can memes be lazy argumentation? Yes, but plenty of argumentation can be lazy or ill informed. Can they be effective communication tools? If constructed properly they can. Each meme should be judged on individual merit and the idea of visual communication, no matter the form, should be supported and embraced as a whole.