Memes have potential to be unhealthy for society
A meme is a funny, image, text, or video that is passed on from user to user on the internet. Memes are spread through Social Media apps like Instagram, Facebook, Instagram and others. The memes I’ve encountered on the internet are hilarious because they either represent something I’ve gone through, or they simply make me laugh for no real reason at all.
Memes also have another side, and can have a malicious motive that can be hurtful to others. For example, there are memes that tend to normalize body-shaming and tragic events through how they are used.
There were a bunch of memes going around that implied that when a guy goes on a date with a girl for them to go to the pool so that they could see what she really looked like without makeup. I’m sure a lot of people thought that it was funny but it is actually quite offensive. Memes like these give off the impression that a girl has to look a certain way for a boy to date her. It shames women who consistently wear makeup for the fun of it because they are doing something that makes them happy.
These types of memes can be seen as trying to shame a specific group because of the message they send across and because of the comments that people leave under the post. They can place certain expectations on women whether or not that was the intended purpose in the first place and no matter how innocent they may be. It is essentially making fun of women and men who participate in wearing makeup and shames them for using it to hid their blemishes, or just wearing it because they like it.
A second example would be a meme I saw that stated “ The school shooter can’t kill you if you are the school shooter,” or memes that say, “ When the school shooter tries to say ‘Hey Siri’ .” Memes like that can make some people laugh, but it also turns a very dangerous situation into a joke. These types of memes turns the unstable mental state of a school shooter and the victims of the incident into jokes. It invalidates and dehumanizes the situation.
Both of these types of memes people can view simply as funny, but a lot of people don’t realize how impactful memes are, whether they are a joke or not. How would you feel if you went through a traumatic event and people were online making fun of it through the use of memes?
Memes, or at least some of them, are definitely not entirely healthy for society because of the messages some showcase. Of course, there are also memes that are absolutely positive and send across the right message but take away from the bad influence of other memes. Nevertheless, memes play a vital role in society, and it is up to everyone who helps spread them to use them for positivity.
Featured Illustration: Jeselle Farias
Agree, memes are useless and not funny at all. It didn’t makes any laugh.
I mean, saying memes are hurtful is like saying social media is hurtful. memes are subjective. the most innocent meme possible will more than likely upset at least one person. there is no point in trying to say memes are hurtful when all memes have the potential to hurt, all knives have the potential to hurt, social media has the potential to hurt, you get the idea. if you really are this scarred of having your feelings hurt then stay off the internet.