In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman uses historical references to address the fact that the main medium used in a society can take over its dialogue and way of thinking. Postman describes the impact a literary-based society had on the United States in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this time period, reading was extremely important in this society. This is proven by the fact that a majority of the population was literate, and education was deeply valued. The author also describes how people spoke similarly to the way words were written. Reading books, newspapers, and pamphlets became part of the American lifestyle.
I was trying to figure out something that affects our society in a similar fashion that literature did years ago. As outlandish as it sounds, I realized that Internet memes have in fact changed our way of speaking. These captioned images and videos made for amusement are increasingly becoming a part of our everyday life. For example, when an individual encounters something that's amusing or even awkward, they'll use the all too common "when you..." line. Whether it's to bring humor to the situation or cope with the absurdity of it, the use of this type of language has made its way into our society. They're use in dialogue, comedy, and advertisements reflect just how prevalent memes are now. By no means am I arguing that they are as influential as literature, but with their presence in our modern culture, do you agree that they have affected us? Would you say they are tainting our culture? In what other areas of life have memes inspired change?
Emily Quezada
That's completely true! I agree. Even though memes are not as influential and valuable as a good education, they seem to have a way of consuming people's lives. Even after AP exams, one of the first things students did was look up the relatable test memes that were surfacing all over the internet. Most people know of at least one person who speaks solely in the "language of memes." That being said, I do believe memes have affected our society; however, their impact is minimal compared to the way texting or social media has impacted our society. Memes are not necessarily tainting our culture, rather, they are slowly incorporating into our culture. Memes aren't always about playful subjects. They also have the power of presenting ideas and beliefs on its viewers. There are countless memes regarding global warming, the Black Lives Matter movement, immigration laws, and many more important subjects in which they could, in fact, inspire change. Personally, memes don't consume my life in a negative fashion, so I couldn't see why memes would be harmful to my life. However, the viewing of memes has changed our way of speaking, and its impact on society is definitely similar to that of literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good idea using internet memes as an example of how it's affecting our way of speaking. Neil Postman explains that photography created a new way of speaking in the twentieth century, which is more abstract than the speech used in writing. Memes is a great example of this because it contains a picture or video of something in which we don't know it's true situation, but we begin creating situations that would fit with the picture or the video, even though it might not be its true situation. Like what you said in your post, what makes memes humorous is that you add a phrase starting with "when you..." and then add the made up situation that would fit with the picture or video. Since memes have started to become popular in the internet for the last few years, it has started to spread into the speech of daily lives and in comedy shows. Memes, for sure, have made our speech be way different from the speech of the past few centuries. It is unlikely for someone in the time of the eighteenth century to start a sentence with "when you", since the use of literature was more dominant than the use of images at this time, and not much humor was shown in this century since television wasn't yet made, as Postman explains in the book. Overall, I agree with your argument since you provided a good example of our technology of today has affected our society, just like how literature has affected society around the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
ReplyDeleteMemes are terrible. They're basically a template for a joke because you can't make an original joke on your own. You find yourself beating a dead horse and your mouth just runs like a broken record and it's just sad and boring. A joke needs some thought for it to be truly funny. I think the thing I struggle with the most is trying to become an original person. Which of course is such a teen thing to say but my God I want my life to mean more then a incoherent sentence attached to an image.
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ReplyDeleteI think that although memes can be enjoyable, some people overuse memes as a type of communication. However, I disagree with Mason stating that memes are terrible. In my opinion, I think it is a way for people to amuse themselves and take a break from a serious situation. Internet memes allow people to laugh at themselves for once and make fun of reality. I believe that as long as these memes don't take it too far, there's not much harm from them. I do have an understanding on how people could think they're having a negative affect, but to me it is a very small impact. I do not necessarily believe that memes have had a major significance on my life, and I do not think that memes play such a major role in order for them to be "tainting our culture."
ReplyDeleteWell sure you have a chuckle seeing it the first four times but after that it's kind of ridiculous. Especially if it starts trending and everyone is constantly telling it to everyone like their a broken record. I disagree with your statement Priya on escaping from reality because although humor is a good way to lighten up I think it has to be all encompassing. Like when you read a book or watch a movie.
DeleteNow that I think about it, memes have become very prevalent in the way our society communicates and speaks, especially between the younger generations. Referencing such memes in daily conversation tends to make the exchanging of ideas funnier and more amusing, and I definitely have been one to take part in such use of internet memes in my language. I think everyone who has been exposed to the world of memes has been subject to using them as part of their lifestyle, and I think we all have that one friend who overuses them and references them constantly. I get sent memes everyday from a bunch of different friends, and they definitely bring laughter and joy to my day. I personally don't find anything negative about memes unless they are created and spread by ignorant people and cover a certain topic that can be seen as contentious or insulting. I have seen memes circulated about sensitive topics that haven't been taken well and have caused uproar and anger amongst certain crowds, and so I think memes can be sort of negative in that way. In my opinion though, memes have ultimately began to integrate as a part of our culture and have sort of become a pseudo form of literature: almost like extremely short comics.
ReplyDeleteMemes have almost totally encompassed the youth of the United States' (and maybe other countries as well) spoken and written discourse. You can see almost everyone online actually speaking like they do in memes and even see people in person do it too. I think this is due to how today's generation can relate to so many things these memes have to say. In fact, memes were created for that very reason: to relate to the public's experiences (as well as for amusement, but mostly to associate). I wouldn't say that they are "tainting our culture", but more allowing us to acknowledge how connected we are in our feelings. They do, however, degenerate us into being slaves to laughter, always seeing things in their amusement instead of taking things more sincerely; I think that is the most detriment that has transpired. Memes have definitely impacted our culture today, and I believe it is up to us to decide how we'll act upon them.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I would have to partially disagree with your claim that memes have made a significant impact on our society, at least as of yet. I understand how one would come to this conclusion, especially since I myself have learned countless information by simply exploring memes on social media; however, I would rather argue that, because of the low international accessibility to memes, It cannot be considered as a major influence over societal functions. The internet is accessible to less than a third of the global population. Memes may seem prominent to us, but I believe that this is simply a result of the school setting in which we like to socialize and share humor, as well as the teenage and young adult demographic that we are encompassed by. I believe that memes are targeted toward younger audiences and appeal to millennials rather than more elderly individuals. Although mentioned once in a while, I otherwise never hear an older person reference a meme in conversation, especially not to the extent that younger people do. To add to this, individual memes do not contain the longevity necessary to permanently impact society. Memes "die" quickly, rapidly spiraling into insignificance. Despite this, I cannot deny that memes are growing in relevance by the day, and as more people are gaining access to the internet and social media across the globe, memes should certainly continue to expand. Currently, however, I do not see memes as a significant contribution to large-scale social behavior, so I must respectfully disagree with your claim.
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