The world moves fast. In a capitalist society, individuals and corporations will do anything it takes to get the slightest edge over the competition. However, sustainability often comes second to immediate profit and much of society has forgotten that resources are not unlimited. If we don’t slow down our rate of consumption and focus on using more sustainable resources, we will one day run out. I’m talking, of course, about memes.
Since the birth of the Internet, memes have been a cornerstone of Internet culture. Steadily, Internet culture grew to be a large part of youth culture, and youth culture inevitably cements itself in mainstream media. This is a long-winded way of saying memes are now commonplace in modern society. Memes have become increasingly volatile, living shorter and shorter lives before losing favor. For example, consider rage comics/faces (these, in case you’ve forgotten). While it may elicit physical pain to look at them now, there was a time when you thought they were funny. Using Google Trends’ search volume measurement, you can see the popularity over time of rage faces (source):
Rage comics lived a full life with a healthy rise, peak and gentle fall. They rose to popularity early in 2011 and didn’t go below 10% of their peak popularity until early 2014. This close-knit subset of memes was alive and well for three years.
In contrast, consider the more recent memes surrounding the untimely death of Harambe the gorilla. Soon after his death, Harambe memes spread like wildfire. Here’s the data (source):
The graph shows all the signs of a healthy meme’s lifetime: the rise, peak and gentle fall. Harambe memes took off in July 2016 and didn’t fall below 10% of their peak popularity until January 2017. Six or seven months isn’t as long as three years, but it is still a decent lifespan for a meme of Harambe’s potential.
Now, consider the recently deceased “Ugandan Knuckles” meme. The Google Trends graph shows a grim picture indeed (source).
Ugandan Knuckles peaked in popularity on January 10, 2018—roughly a week after the spark was lit—and fell to 11% of its peak popularity just one month later. This is an abysmal lifetime for a meme. The data shows that memes are living shorter and shorter lifetimes: rage comics lasted three years, Harambe lasted 6 months and Ugandan Knuckles barely survived a month. I brainstormed a few example memes and measured their lifetimes using Google Trends, and the result is clear: older memes lasted longer, and today’s memes die faster. But why?
First, the economy. Companies are always looking to improve their image with the youth because that demographic spends a lot of money. So, they see us talking about these may-mays and they decide to use them to be relatable. Sometimes it goes over well, but the majority of the time, it's either distasteful, misused or comes across as trying too hard. Corporate use is a quick and easy way to kill a meme, and companies show no signs of stopping.
Another factor is the very nature of memes. They are meant to be inside jokes. Part of the allure of a meme is being able to say, “I get that reference.” In a perfect world, memes would be for everyone, but in our flawed existence, they are exclusive by their very nature. So, as they continuously become more popular, they see increased use by both the “in” and the “out” crowd. The peak for the meme is higher due to the bigger “in” crowd, but the bigger “out” crowd increases the meme’s chance of death by overexposure.
This whole situation seems rather hopeless. Luckily, there are things we can do to preserve memes. First, don’t overuse a meme. Pushing a meme past its potential causes it to lose favor more quickly, and increased exposure increases the chance of a company trying to market the meme. Second, let memes die. Using a meme while its in its death throes only kills it faster and taints the legacy in the meme's wake. After all, that’s the beauty of memes: individuals come and go, but memes are eternal.
