The impact of memes

Memes have impacted the lives of many, from young children to big companies like the NFL when they (almost) played “Sweet Victory” during the halftime show, due to a meme that blew up.

Students have been exposed to memes since the early 2000s, so it was inevitable for them to have an impact on our lives. But what sort of impact? And why did they make an impact to us at all? How much complexity is there to the world of memes that we might be missing?

So let’s get the big question out of the way: How do memes impact daily life? When asked this question, some kind people on Reddit replied.

“To me sitting on Reddit looking at memes and enjoying myself for even half an hour a day has greatly improved my general happiness,” says u/tactitpizza. This user isn’t the only one whose life is happier because of memes.

“Memes honestly have given me the courage and motivation to get up every morning with a smile on my face and get on with my day. Thank you memes,” says u/Toast_Thats_Burnt.

These are simple ways of saying that memes have made their lives more positive and happy. But if you want a less simple way of putting it, u/purplepop5 says, “I stay connected with half my friends by sending memes back and forth. Keeping each other laughing and entertained throughout the monotonous day to day tasks at work. There are many times a meme gives humor to otherwise normal things. Humorous viewpoints on sad things that you may think you’re the only one who thinks that way about them.

“For example, there may be things your mom does that seem embarrassing but there are many memes out there that show a lot of others are embarrassed by their mothers’ actions as well. So you can get a sense of relief from those memes because you see you’re not alone.”

So, clearly, memes are really appealing. But there has to be a reason for why they are so appealing. 

“They’re a cultural thing that let you connect with other people, whether it’s relatable, funny, both or something else. It’s like an inside joke you share with people who you’ve never met before but you can still connect on these little ‘jokes,’ ” says another Reddit user.

But maybe it’s simpler than that.

“They just feel right,” says u/ysername11, and u/Xenotracker just says one word: “Humor.”

Reddit was asked one more question: What is the point of meme themes (history memes, video game memes, etc.), and how are they different from normal memes? 

“The meme theme is due to a specifically targeted demographic of those with like interest,” says u/theisiscrisis. “For example, I enjoy playing the new game ‘Apex Legends,’ and thus will peruse memes on r/apexoutlands because I can relate, understand, and find the humor quite readily.”

Believe it or not, we have some memelords at our very own school. Eighth-grader Theo Tackas is a rank 2 memelord, while seventh-grader Ricky Paul is a memelord and meme maker, and eighth-grader Casper Aubert is meme expert and meme historian.

Theo was asked to define the term “normie.” He replied, “[Normies] are usually people who don’t understand what dead memes are, and find dead memes funny. [They are] people who thrive on dead meme culture.”

Now that brings up the question of how do memes die.

“[It dies] when a meme starts being overused, or when it reaches Instagram,” said Theo.

Casper said, “Memes die once normies reach them.”

Instagram is the home of dead memes and normies. They steal memes from other websites, usually Reddit, and post them on Insta later. 

How much complexity is there to memes that the average memer might be missing? 

“There is a whole lot of complexity,” Casper said. “It ranges from timing, to strangeness, to realness, and more. There’s different cultures too.” 

Theo’s favorite meme, although it is dead now, was the Big Chungus memes. He thinks that the strangest memes are bean memes and cursed images. He was introduced to the meme life when his brother introduced him to IFunny. He got IFunny on his computer, the on his phone, but switched to Reddit when the IFunny community got toxic.

Casper’s favorite meme, although it is has been dead for a very long time, is Here Come Dat Boi. He thinks the strangest meme is Meme Man. He joined the meme life way back in 2012 and 2013, back in the days of top text / bottom text / impact font memes. He joined because back then, memes were really witty, and he wanted to be witty, so he joined the meme life, and hasn’t left since.

Ricky’s favorite memes are Tom memes. Tom is the cat from Tom and Jerry. He joined the meme life when he started following random meme accounts on Instagram, and really enjoyed the memes.  He decided he wanted to try and make some memes, and that really hit off for him. He now uses IFunny and reddit.

These people are all very different people, with very different interests, but the one thing that brings them together is memes. And this is only three people. Imagine what kind of people memes bring together everywhere else. Memes have been, and will be, a big part of people’s lives, whether they live far away, or if they’re going to go to the same high school as you.