MeMe CuLTuRe In MEdiA

          As media has progressed over the decades, certain trends have become integrated into it.  Over the last decade, the rise of social media has created a new culture in America - meme culture.  This new humorous art form can be summed up as jokes told over pictures or videos.  Many times, the video or picture is the joke in itself, but it requires a certain type of humor to understand.  That is why it has become such an influencing part of teenage life, often dictating the trends and humor that people follow.  In personal experience, I follow several meme accounts on my Instagram account, as I  know many of my friends do as well.  Around the world, memes have become a prominent aspect of media.  Certain accounts have managed managed millions of followers from memes alone, gaining sponsors and becoming a legitimate career for its managers.
         What has contributed to the rise of this new trend? The popularity of smartphones have replaced the old forms of gathering information in magazines, newspapers, and articles.  The quick sharing of information has made it almost less formal and careful.  This type of rapid entertainment has benefited the meme culture, because creators can easily make a quick, and often terrible joke and gain popularity.  Even if half of their posts are not funny, it doesn't matter because of how fast they are able to post them.  The new age of short attention spans and quick and accessible information has allowed for the memes to flourish.
         

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 3, 2019 at 10:25 PM

    Memes are probably such a prominent part of today's pop culture because they can be made by anyone, and produced so quickly. We need crazier and more intense forms of entertainment than ever before, because our minds are so over saturated with media consumption. Nothing surprises us anymore. Memes might be a temporary thing, or they might be here to stay. It all depends on how we evolve as a society, and how our sense of humor changes along with it.

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