Ah yes, science_memes

??

Have you considered googling your bullshit before leaving a comment? Though I’m inclined to think you’re just trolling since you’re comparing a life saving technique to beating your child. Either way, take a break.

No idea but I’d imagine it’s even worse there

Giving a buck to that dev is better for him than all those ads you “watch”.

OC could watch 2 ads a day for 5 years and it still would make the dev less money than a $1 donation

Because Nebula pays more to the creators. The people who make the videos I watch didn’t make shit on YouTube

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I love YouTube and it really bums me out to have to drop it. My home account has been heavily curated over the past two decades and it’s pretty rare to see a video on my homepage from the shitty part of YouTube…now I’m getting ads and just closing the tab. I have a separate account just for listening to music on my work laptop and I’ve found a ton of new artists through it, too…not sure what I’m gonna do once it starts getting ads, too.

I have a Nebula subscription but only like 1/3 of the channels I watch are on there. And obviously none of the music

Now THAT’S a good one

Maybe I’m missing the joke but that is not ISO

Host your own. bruh…

This graphic taught me that unless the weight weighs itself, it does not have a weight

No no, if you don’t measure your weight yourself then you don’t have a weight. Didn’t you read it?

It’s extremely adjacent. The original post is not about individual words that are new to the language being used…they’re talking about quotes and references. How do those get shared nowadays? Through image templates.

I’m not sure the music analogy quite fits what I was trying to get across - appealing to the lowest common denominator isn’t a bad thing.

It’s that memes takes no effort compared to making something original and they appeal to the lowest common denominator so they get the most attention (and upvotes/likes/whatever feel good). This does two things: incentives people to make template memes instead of expressing original thoughts and drowns out the original thoughts of others.

I see the value of memes as “conversation starters” (like this thread) so I don’t hate them, I just think it’s made social media worse and a lot more boring.

I totally agree with your point on publications. It’s one thing to have a creative title with a built-in pin but adding fluff just to get laughs…I dunno, I’m not saying they shouldn’t have fun but it distracts from the point.

Autocorrect got me! I meant virality. Like they’re being made for the upvotes. To become viral and be seen by as many people as possible or to be monetized by a meme account on Instagram.

Alternative and in the same vein, people rush to make the obvious joke… Not because it’s a good joke or even one that has to be told. Just because they want to be the first one to say it

The disconnect for me happened when memes started being made for the masses and I don’t mean that in a “I liked them before they got popular!” way. I mean when they changed from being in-jokes to attempts at virality.

Does that make sense? Genuinely asking because I don’t know how exactly to phrase what I mean. Like a meme made for your group chat is an in-joke and one made “for the public” is…content. I’m not asking anyone to agree with me but I’m hoping my point is understood

[Edit] fixed autocorrect changing virality to vitality

Really if I had to make my opinion more concise, it isn’t just that it “doesn’t feel right” - it’s that it feels like the word choice was used not to better express their idea but to be flashy and trendy. It’s not that a writer used a pop culture reference, it’s why the writer used it.

I’d have a very similar opinion if the trend was to use wacky typefaces or colors for the title. It serves no purpose other than to catch your eye (hence my clickbait analogy) and I think academia should be held to a higher standard than buzzfeed

Yeet is an example of a word or idea that fits the original description of meme, though. My “issue” (using that word lightly) is the overuse of image templates in place of words

I’m not sure how to phrase this well but I feel like you’re giving memes way too much credit by comparing them to idioms. There is nothing being added to the message when paired with a generic meme template so it’s not as much a method to express yourself as it is an attempt at giving the reader a dopamine hit when they recognize the image. It’s also different than words or phrases evolving because it’s the image template, not the words, giving the dopamine hit.

I think my issue with them can be described as this: Most memes aren’t made to communicate an idea, they’re made to get attention. They’re the visual equivalent of a clickbait headline and I don’t think they’re adding to or changing our language. If what you have to say is too banal to be said without an image template, why make it if not for those sweet sweet upvotes?

I’m not necessarily arguing here, just trying to find the right words to express my feelings on it.

i’m inclined to side with the initial tweet because I’m not a big fan of memes. I don’t have any data (because I don’t hold this opinion strongly) but it feels like so much more communication today is just references to other things. And I don’t think I believe that memes in academic papers are an “evolution” of the language - I think they’re doing it to get attention.

I’m not saying original statements are inherently better than repeated ones but “meme culture” is just posting the same thing over and over and it feels so…lazy and boring. I really struggle to understand how people enjoy seeing the same joke for the 100th time. As an example, any time a video game or movie introduced a cute animal, you’re guaranteed to see someone oh-so-cleverly add it to the “If anything happens to [name]…” template. Is there really no better way to express that you think an animal is cute? Did you really even want to express it or did you make it for Internet points?

I dunno. I guess I just don’t like the repetition of everything nowadays. It reminds me of a kid I went to school with who could not have a conversation without dropping in several Simpsons quotes…yeah man, I saw the episode and it was funny when Homer said that. It’s not very funny when you say it.