Life Cycle of Memes
Similar to the way meme culture has evolved towards more abstract forms of humor, the amount of time for which a meme is relevant has also changed. There is a distinct trend towards shorter lifespans of memes. In the first wave of meme culture,“ Advice Animals’ s” lifespans would range from a few months to a few years.“ Rage Comics” were popular from 2008 to 2011.“ Pepe” and the other variations of the meme were popular from 2006 to 2016. However, this has become a rarity. More often than not memes in the current culture only last for a couple months or less. As is common with the internet, memes have been created to contemplate and analyze the changes in meme culture.( Fig. 116) There are a few factors causing this change.
In 2011, a number of articles were published by various news organizations suggesting that the internet may be causing a phenomenon called‘ popcorn brain.’ The concept is that because of the internet’ s constant bombardment of users with a wide range of content, the attention span of people has gotten progressively shorter. This can explain in part why memes have continually shorter periods of popularity.
Another reason for meme abandonment is the commercialization of memes. Many companies are constantly trying to appeal to the demographics of the internet and a seemingly clear way to create this appeal is to use the same language, which includes meme culture. However, the collective internet has been opposed to this communication attempt. More often than not, a meme’ s life cycle is dramatically reduced, or even killed.
fig. 116
Many consider the including of memes in popular culture, especially advertising to be pandering to their demographic. It is often met with ridicule and active dislike. For example, in the reboot of The Powerpuff Girls, a cartoon from Cartoon Network, there is a shot with Bubbles making the“ No Me Gusta” face.( Fig. 117) This piled on to the internet’ s already present disdain for the reboot since the original show was extremely beloved by many internet users. Another reason for the shorter life spans of memes is the progressive desensitization to humor. As mentioned in the section about collective understanding, the sense of humor of the internet has become more and more abstracted.( see page 30) Some believe this is due to desensitization, meaning users need to expose themselveves to more extreme media in order to illicit a reaction. This in itself has become a meme, much like the memes of explaining why a meme is funny or popular. There is a powerpoint created by John Fredericks that somewhat explains visually the progession of humor using the same language as the rest of the internet.( Fig. 118-127)
42 | Part Two: The Language of the Internet