Exploratory Essay: Memes 1

Exploratory Essay: Memes

Holly Carpenter

Coastal Carolina University

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Table of Contents

Exploratory Essay: Memes ................................................................................................. 3

[Heading 1] ......................................................................................................................... 3

[Heading 2] ..................................................................................................................... 3

[Heading 3] ................................................................................................................. 4

References ........................................................................................................................... 6
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Exploratory Essay: Memes

In many different aspects of this generation and of the past couple years, memes have

started to grow into something that is something for people to laugh about and connect over. The

real question is, are memes good or bad, are they beneficial to teenagers’ lives, and why are they

so popular among teenagers. Most of the problems that revolve around memes may come from

parents who maybe don’t know what exactly they are all about and why people find them so

funny.

[Heading 1]

The first thing is how memes came to someone’s knowledge. This article is written by

Eringerud and it is called “Why Memes Matter.” Memes first originated back in the 1970’s as it

was a term first used for academic debates around the world. Memes have never had the same

reason back then as they do now and people who might have known that term back in the 70’s

might believe it was something completely different than what teens and young adults know

memes as. This really does not answer the questions above, but it is very interesting information

to have and understand exactly what memes are. At first, I never knew memes was a shorter term

for academic debates and stuff because the memes I know now are really dumb songs, videos

and even pictures.

[Heading 2]1

James Rubec in the article, “Why Memes Matter: The Good, the Bad, the Viral,” helps explain

how memes are formed and can be interpreted by many different people. He uses the example of

Michael Phelps ‘game face’ picture and how people have made so many sayings about the

picture. Many people found these pictures of him quite funny because of the captions that were

said with the picture. While others thought it was kind of mean and could have been taken poorly
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by him or by his family. In my own opinion, I thought these memes were very funny with the

right things that were said, but I also have seen a few hurtful ones that would have hurt my

feelings if they were put on a picture of me. This information is important because it helps us see

the good side of memes but also the negative side of memes.

[Heading 3]. “Why Memes Matter,” by Tahera Siddiqi speaks on the issue of memes and

how they are important to teens and their development but how they can be so dark and mean.

She talks about how memes can help develop teenagers’ sense of humor and how they can joke.

It also shows how teens can receive jokes and if it hurts them. There are extremely bad memes

out there that could end up hurting a person and maybe even worse. Memes like this is a form of

cyberbullying and that’s the worst part of memes. Many parents might actually believe that

memes are bad due to this issue and how it would affect their own children. Parents too, may not

have the same sense of humor as teens when it comes to memes and how a super funny meme to

a teen, may be a really inappropriate meme to an adult. I believe this really helps inform others

what memes really are and how they can be extremely hurtful and mean to others. What a person

might believe is funny may not be the same for another person. There is a dark side to everything

now in our lives. There’s the dark web, dark media, dark side of pets and even memes. This is

one thing I believe many people do not understand.

[Heading 4]. In Brain Feldman’s, “What Level of Brain-Meme Irony Are You on,”

discusses a topic of how memes are actually helpful to the human mind. There was a meme that

surfaced the internet not too long ago that had around three different pictures of brains and three

different words. This helps us see how even more complexed words really work and how our

brain reacts to them. I think this helps show how memes are actually very important to teenagers
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and helping their minds grow while they are still developing. This is definitely seen as a pro to

memes and how they actually might be very useful to this generation.

[Heading 5]. In “Why Memes Are a Bad Idea” by Paul Thagard, he believes and puts

how memes can be a very bad thing in this time period for people to look at. While many people

believe memes are very beneficial to this youth, there are others who think and truly believe that

memes cause a lot of development issues within the growing teens and young adults. Their

biggest concern is teenagers’ emotions because some memes can really put a hold on how teens

take in and put out their own emotion. Many parents do not want their own children to be

involved with memes and spread around the negative ones. My main question was how do

memes actually affect children’s’ emotions? I found it very interesting and would definitely want

to know more about this topic and how it would affect the mind.

In conclusion, memes will always be around us in the would we live in. Every parent and

every teens view are going to be completely different. Memes to a person can be good, they can

be bad, they can affect the teenage mind but, in the end, I believe they can be very beneficial to

the mind but actually can cause negativity in lives. To eliminate how parents may feel about

memes, maybe kids could show that they are not all that bad and can actually be funny. I know a

group of my friends and I like to make memes about all of other friends from church and we

always make sure it would not hurt anyone’s feelings if they were to see them and we do end up

showing others the memes. I believe memes are a good thing for this youth and for them to grow

and get connected with the world. Memes are what you make of them, so if you want them to be

mean, you can make it to were someone who will look at it would think its rude or you can make

it super funny.
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References

Eringerud. “Why Memes Matter.” How to Fly a Horse, 10 Mar. 2015, howtoflyahorse.com/why-

memes-matter/. Accessed 22 Feb. 2019.

Rubec, James. “Why Memes Matter: The Good, the Bad the Viral.” Cision, 10 Aug. 2016,

www.cision.ca/cision-strategy/why-memes-matter-the-good-the-bad-the-viral/. 22 Feb.

2019

Siddiqi, Tahera. “Why Memes Matter.” Odyssey, 7 Jan. 2017,

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/why-memes-matter. Accessed 22 Feb. 2019.

Thagard, Paul. “Why Memes Are a Bad Idea.” Psychology Today. 13 Feb. 2013.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hot-thought/201302/why-memes-are-bad-

idea. Accessed 23 Feb. 2019.