A Simple Meme: The Incorporation of Digital Culture and Human Culture

A Simple Meme: The Incorporation of Digital Culture and Human Culture

As we grow as a society, our understanding of technology and the digital age matures and grows exponentially. In just 20 years, our society has become completely dependent on technology and on digital and social media. We are so in touch with the world around us through social media and television, but this can be mistaken for being in touch with the cultures and people around the world. While this was once seen as a bad thing, our landscape as a human culture has changed. Digital culture has now intertwined itself with human culture as our society has grown and developed.

Living vicariously through others has become the most popular way to live in this digital age. We can watch YouTube video logs of influencers’ trips to whatever tropical destination they choose, see Instagram posts of Robert Irwin holding snakes, and watch people climb Mount Everest on CNN. The digital artifact I chose is very simple, but it is effective in showing how our society, especially younger generations, relies heavily on the internet as entertainment and a means of community. Social media helps us to feel less alone and more seen as a person, even if it is on an anonymous forum or with your name at the center of your brand.

This artifact uses ethos because this is a well-known and popular meme that the majority of people have seen and it can be changed to fit what you are specifically trying to convey. There are millions of adaptations of this meme, but this specific one shows the ideal relationship between meme culture and human culture regarding the internet. Like most memes, it is also centered around a still frame from a television show. It uses Pathos because yes, it is funny at first but as you sit and think about it, there is a background feeling of empathy for our culture and how the internet and meme culture has shaped our world and forged a new and blended culture. When you sit and look at it longer. You start to realize that this meme is actually correct; because memes have become a sense of culture for Americans who frequently enjoy social media and the internet in general.

            This digital artifact is a meme that has been in circulation for a while now, and has surely been seen by the majority of internet and social media users. While simple and meant for entertainment, it conveys a valid argument: Do we as a society rely on the internet and memes for a feeling of culture? Or could this be our new way of learning culture in this digital age? This is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s day and age because there is more and more usage and importance of technology. This can be seen in schools that are completely online, offering online classes in colleges and universities, and when companies provide apps and online programs that take away the need for human beings. The decreasing need for human face-to-face communication has been coming for a long time, but hit a peak with Covid-19 and has not changed very much since. Because of COVID-19, schools and companies rely more heavily on technology. Students are learning from home on their own with a laptop and maybe a Zoom meeting, and adults in the workforce are able to work from home in solitude.             The COVID-19 pandemic really changed the meaning of online culture in America and around the world. We are more comfortable going days without leaving our homes or even seeing other people. This has led to the idea of being “chronically online,” a Gen-Z term for being more in touch with online memes than other human beings. This comes from spending hours on social media and can be shown in everyday conversations that have been tinged by this avid social media usage, making these conversations hard to understand if you are not on the internet as often as the people around you. The internet has begun to forge a new culture in the youth, with new vocabulary and ways of thinking.

            This development of technology and social media can be seen as a good thing because the internet has created a way for people around the world to communicate with these new ways of speaking and acting that can be easily transferred between languages. In a way, memes have become a part of human culture because the same meme can be translated between languages, and some memes don’t even need to have words attached to them. This has changed the game with human interaction, similarly to social media and technology. Every single person who has a form of social media has seen one meme or another, so memes truly have become a part of the culture for human civilization.

            Memes have been considered a part of our culture because they convey a cultural, social, or political expression, mainly through humor, as The New York Times states. They are often derived from historical events or other pieces of media that shaped our lives and our culture as Americans. They play a big role in spreading information in live time in an entertaining way, often as a way of coping with the disastrous current events that continue to shape our lives. This has been seen with the passing of the Pope, election scandals, and economic downfall. Sometimes with these events, people find out through these memes that are posted on social media, often commenting, “This cannot be the way I find out about this,” as seen with the death of Liam Payne, former OneDirection bandmate.

            Memes can also be used as a form of political sway. We saw this with the 2024 election, where Kamala Harris and her pages posted a multitude of memes to promote her political campaign with the youth of America. This was a very smart and in-touch way to get to younger generations, understanding that the majority of their downtime is spent scrolling on apps like TikTok and Instagram reels. They can also be used to reveal or humor political scandal, as seen with the multitude of not-so-lighthearted 9/11 memes that have turned into a cult conspiracy following.

            Memes have shaped our culture in ways that we don’t understand. For my generation, memes have been around for the majority of our lives, starting with six-second videos on Vine, and transitioning slowly into complex and multi-layered pieces of media that only “chronically online” people may understand. My childhood and young adult life can be traced back to different memes and video platforms, which build community within the generation and serve as something we can all bond over as youth. So, while memes and the digital age have changed the way we function as a society face-to-face, it has slowly built a community between all of us as Americans and as humans. The ever-changing, ever-growing landscape of meme culture sounds so silly, but it truly has helped us bond and grow up together and serves to entertain, educate, and foster community online.