The Influence of Memes- A Dynamic Internet Phenomenon | Original Article

ABSTRACT:

ABSTRACT

Memes are a big part of the internet now-a-days. Memes control the internet culture (Romano, 2019). According to Oxford Languages, memes are defined as an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations. There are various genres, subjects and natures of memes. This study aims to explore the use of memes and its impact on the youth, aged between 15-30 years. Going through so many opinions about the ever so dynamic meme culture, this study shows that memes are as dynamic and ambiguous as the society itself. Memes are present on every social media handle and every community has their own style and context of memes. Almost every person browses, views and shares memes, and might get affected by them, either positively or negatively, depending on the content they consume. If a person wants to positively use this internet culture, they need to make sure that the content they share and connect with is socially acceptable, relatable and harmless in certain ways. People need to realize that memes are just personal opinions shared publically, made popular through relatable contexts, extensive sharing and vast globalization and connectivity amongst people. Memes can have a positive as well as a negative impact on an individual, a specific group or the whole society. They can be a source of entertainment, information, a portal for sharing positive action and opinions if used wisely, or cause humiliation to certain people and make stereotypes more prominent in the society, disrupt and hurt public interests and spread hate. Hence, they should be taken as just another source of infotainment, rather than a means of spreading hate.