Quotation:
“Memes can be an efficient, high-impact method of spreading a message or idea, and they also have the potential to dominate popular culture during their time in the limelight” (422).
Comment:
I completely agree with this statement. Sadly, our generation has a very low attention span because of how much we use technology. There are so many people who don’t take time to read important articles and books nowadays, because they would rather scroll through 15-second videos or look at pictures all day. Memes, however, have helped with spreading important information that people don’t take the time to read about. Memes are efficient, easy to read, and capture a viewer’s interest quickly. Some memes have helped people understand what is going on in the world and helped spread news in a comical and light way. Memes also are able to reach younger audiences by using cartoons and funny texts to get the message across in a fast way without having to read so much information. The downside, though, is that people reading memes for their news or important topics only get a small bit of information and they have to eventually look more into it to learn the full topic. Some people just look at a meme and assume that they got all the information they needed from it and are too lazy to look into the topic more, which can cause people to form opinions on things they know very little about. Memes can also spread fake news easily; a meme can get popular for being funny and creative, but the information in it may be misleading or just completely incorrect and viewers may not know that. Another upside to memes is teachers using memes to get information across in class. By showing their students a meme of what they are learning about, they are able to look at the information in a different way and are more likely to pay attention because of the animation and humor.
Question:
When did memes start becoming useful to spread important information, instead of being used only for comical purposes?
