Meme’s & Relations

1. What according to you is the role of memes in our lives today? Especially during social media interactions

Memes have become a way of communication. Much like how emojis were once new, memes were new; now they are used more commonly. When a specific type of lingo or jargon is used by a group or society at large, it helps people to identify with each other. It can be an easy way to express, but more importantly, can serve as a way of bonding. When we do activities similar to others in a group, or speak their language, it makes rapport and relationship building easier.

2. Do you think the intervention of memes in a way helps boost our interactions with others?

Memes are used on digital medium – where there is no way of understanding the other person’s nonverbal communication. i.e. the intent or emotion with which someone is sending across a text message. At such times, the memes become an informal method of communicating this intent or emotion. To that extent they are similar to emojis except that memes are more lively and a lighter way of expression. Similarly, when a brand wants its audience to understand a specific message, instead of explaining it, they would put out the most relevant meme and their work gets done quicker – to that extent memes can serve as a new way of using audio visuals to put out your brand’s advertising.

When humans are used in the memes, it can become more relatable as well, since the background of using a particular meme could give the communicators a reason to enhance the connection. For e.g. if friends are using a meme because it became a viral trend, they might also interact further on the story around that meme and relate it to their situation, which deepens the level of communication, even if it is very informal in nature.

3. Do you think memes serve as “carrier messengers” by themselves (saying something without really saying it but simply forwarding a meme)- explain

In body language, we have similar kind of signals or “carrier messengers” that we use to give away a very specific message, not just to support the words we use. For e.g. some hand gestures have a very specific meaning like say when we put together the index finger and the thumb to signal. These are called emblems and help to suggest something very specific even though the meaning can be different in different cultures. To that extent, memes give out a very specific meaning but the appropriateness to use them can be derived if you know the culture in a place or society.

The problem with just forwarding memes in a personal communication instead of elaborating can be that you give out only a part of your entire emotion, message or feeling to someone instead of being original and saying everything that you wish to. To that extent it is a shortcut and won’t work when there is something serious that needs to be communicated seriously or formally.

4. Do you think memes in a way have taken away from real time conversations? (Please elaborate how)

When memes are used to bring in informality into a conversation, they work well. To a certain extent, when I see how much “dark” content has started being put out on OTT platforms for the viewers to consume, memes can be a lighter relief for consumption and balance out the emotions of the viewers on digital media.

But when memes start replacing conversation itself, they pose a big downside to understanding each other truly well. For e.g. if I hurt a friend and in order to apologise to her I send a meme conveying the message. She responds with something and suddenly we bond. But where were the true words or even body language to tell how genuine my apology was? The extent to which we understand the true depth of intent of someone really decreases through over usage of memes. I could be sending out the same meme to five friends in place for an apology and there would never be a differentiation in my intent to apologise towards each of them.

5. Is there any particular age spectrum most glued to memes in your opinion?

Obviously it is the younger generation GenZ/Alpha and also the ones who are constantly hooked to the social media who understand the context of specific memes that go viral and they are the ones who habitually use these the most in their interactions. Brands that wish to identify with this generation also use memes in their marketing. But that does not mean the older generation cannot or do not use memes. I use these all the time to bond with my daughter. And when I would like to bring in a level of informality into a conversation with a colleague.

The thing to remember is how we need to be careful in balancing out informal versus formal conversations, but I think that is true for all informal chats, not just memes.

6. Do you think the meme culture portrays a reflection of society and norms pertaining to current times?

The idea that we want to quicken the pace of communication is evident in different changes we are bringing in every single day into our lives over time like improvements in mobiles, video chats etc and memes are a part of this culture.

What I see as a danger is the tendency to criticize everyone and everything that has become a fad with almost anyone becoming an “influencer”. This culture has given rise to the concept of “roasting” others and somewhere it is the same philosophy behind the memes that arise as a viral trend. The intent with which the concept goes viral has less to do with appreciating the person or the incident that becomes a meme and more to do with having an easy laugh. It is becoming easy to make anyone a scapegoat and is definitely not healthy.

Someone will need to start educating the younger generation about this else it might just stick around as the acceptable behaviour – that they can criticize others at the drop of a hat without spending equal if not more efforts in appreciating them. Those being made the centre of an easy joke could feel the same decrease in self-esteem as could the victim of
bullying.

7. How do you think one manages a good balance between memes and real time conversations happening?

Memes again are not and should not be used to replace conversations altogether. They are just a support and should be used to that extent only. Maybe if you were interacting with a friend and having a light mood for some fun, you use memes. Or if you wanted to make some message relatable to an incident, you use memes. But it cannot be used as a full
substitute to actual conversation. Never.

When we converse there are different reasons and purposes for the same – some are to express our mood and at other times it is to pass on information or to communicate something that is on our mind. Memes might work for the first bit but for the other two aspects, other modes of communication are required, like words, graphics, video, audio etc.

8. What according to you could be possible repercussions of an increased hype of memes especially in terms of forging bonds/interactions among users?

While it can become easy to form bonds, and momentarily fix broken bonds, if your message is not original and coming from your heart, it seldom helps to deepen a bond. The same holds for a purchased card to wish someone or a meme sent over a chat or in your social media messaging.