Do Memes Make College Students Stupid or Vice Versa?

Written by Susan Saurel of EssayWritingLand.

Memes have become a part of the media that’s responsible for our daily dose of a laugh, questionable information, and troll engagement. This form of content is easy to create and it has the ability to spread like wildfire in a short period. With time, a meme can influence the online society in a different way than it was planned. It’s most popular with the younger generation, especially college students who are, in most cases, creators of memes.

The Influence of Memes

In the last few years, we’ve seen a growing number of engaged memes that display a sarcastic view of a certain political organization, individual, or event. The US 2016 elections were one of the strongest pieces of evidence in support of the memes’ influence on real-life events. As the race moved closer to the finish line, we could see more and more memes appearing, carrying all sorts of messages.

It’s not an issue to publish a meme that mocks general topics. False information, difficult to research and check, is what starts problems.

This is where the things get tricky because not everyone will investigate the source of info. The authenticity of the meme is even more above the question if there is an army of supporting comments. It’s difficult not to believe when so many other like-minded people believe to be the truth.

What We Often Fail to Realize

In one of their forms, memes often include private persons that never sought online popularity. People don’t react the same to public exposure. There have been tragic results when regular kids became memes. Most exposed kids couldn’t handle the ridicule of the entire online society.

Creating memes to make people laugh or convey a personal statement is generally acceptable. Yet, it’s completely different when you decide to put someone on the spotlight. Especially without first asking yourself what this meme would do to that particular person.

In addition, creating memes that carry nonsense information or false statistics actually has a negative effect. Most vulnerable are those who tend to believe things they see online. Misleading memes create confusion and don’t help anyone. This goes especially if the information reflects a topic that’s not easy to research and find out the actual truth. The bad news is that the false memes are becoming a widespread trend. The world is still waiting for a study that would explain why on Earth people create such content.

What Does This Mean?

Memes carry information in a form that’s easy to process, so people take it without even thinking about it. It’s like when you have to write an essay and you decide to hire a cheap essay writing service because you don’t want to waste your time. Instead of deciding if memes make students stupid, or the situation is contrary, it seems safer to argue that the relationship is mutual. Memes can form a generation of stupid people. On the other side, college students have the ability to generate stupid memes.

Susan Saurel is a teacher of higher category based in Texas and a content creator at EssayWritingLand. She enjoys exploring the world. Susan holds a bachelor’s degree in education and she is also a consultant in an IT company and a lovely mom. She likes to share her writing experience with readers and she has been featured in many publications. Contact her via Twitter.