What are memes? Can you define memes? Yes, you can define memes, but, “should you” is the better question. The meaning of “memes” has changed as time moves forward; however, they tend to be photos or videos that people find funny. Memes are pieces of media that people find on the internet, and then share with it with their friends, but what people find funny now is a whole lot different than when memes first started.
Memes were innocent in the early days, people liked to prank one another by sending “Never Gonna Give You Up,” and telling them that they were just rickrolled. Now, someone might send you a photo of a bean to tell you that you have just been beaned.
— SiIvaGunner (@GiIvaSunner) September 9, 2016
Times change, and for memes, time changes incredibly fast. A hot meme from two weeks ago won’t be around much longer. For example, World War 3 memes died quickly. People stopped talking about it because it wasn’t funny anymore, and that is just the way the internet works.
It’s very difficult for people to look at memes and take them seriously. Most of the time memes exist to make someone laugh. If people try to evaluate memes for their deeper meaning, you will almost always fall short of an underlying message. I have made many memes, and all of my memes lacked a deeper meaning. Nothing I made was ever meant to be looked at and analyzed, and I am sure that’s how most meme creators are now. Sure, every so often there is a meme with a deeper meaning, but it is rare. The only times I’ve seen memes with deeper meanings is when people are making fun of the creator for trying to make a meme serious. So no, memes shouldn’t be taken seriously.