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<\/p>\nAre we becoming increasingly anti-social because of memes? Are we addicted to our phones and laptops – always looking at memes? Have we lost touch with what’s real\u00a0and rely on mediated versions of reality?<\/p>\n
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At first I thought that we as a society had become worryingly\u00a0anti social, and we have to some extent, although what was classified as social ten years ago is not necessarily the same today. We are glued to our mobiles, tablets, laptops and any other technological devices under the sun as\u00a0today\u00a0these are fundamental tools that are deemed necessary in order to socialise with others.<\/p>\n
The relationship we have with our devices has\u00a0developed to a point where we no longer rely on triggers such as a buzz or a ring for us to use them.\u00a0In a\u00a0study of 1,100 teens and adults,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0found that the vast majority of smartphone users under 35 checked in with their electronic devices up to 30\u00a0times a day without receiving an alert. This obsession with checking our phones is amplified by memes, we no longer look at our phones to even communicate with others, it’s to browse all of our\u00a0feeds for entertaining ourselves\u00a0with interesting content such as\u00a0memes.<\/p>\n The Wall Street Journal<\/a>\u00a0went on to explain how this anti social behaviour was due to us spending ‘so much time maintaining superficial connections online that we aren\u2019t dedicating enough time or effort to cultivating deeper real-life relationships. Too much chatter, too little real conversation.’ This societal faux pas has provided us with shallow, half fulfilled relationships. Evident through the sharing of memes, the usual scenario\u00a0consists of a friend tagging another friend in a meme with no comment, to which the other friend responds with either ‘hahaha’ or a crying laughing face. This gives no depth to\u00a0why they find it hilarious or any other opinions on the meme.<\/p>\n Has this made us\u00a0much less sociable? To an extent, although\u00a0I believe that memes are\u00a0changing the way we socialise. This modern communication\u00a0has created a sort of\u00a0social sphere that is fed with constant interaction, birthing the\u00a0idea of ‘Ambient Intimacy’<\/a>, where social media site allows us to keep in contact with others in a rate that would otherwise be impossible in reality. This constant\u00a0sharing and tagging of friends in memes allows you to interact with others on level\u00a0that\u00a0you couldn’t or wouldn’t maintain in real life.<\/p>\n I shared this meme of Phil Mitchell on Facebook and received 11 likes: – Only 3 of the likes were from people I talk to on a weekly basis – 6 were from people I would see every couple of months – 2 were from people that I had only met a handful of times Showing how this idea of ‘Ambient Intimacy’ allows me to socialise with these people that otherwise I would not.<\/p><\/div>\n Memes not only create their own virtual social world, they also provide a basis of pop culture that provides topics for discussion in real life. Memes take popular events and information and turn them into comedic photos and videos.\u00a0They are so prominent now that you cannot address certain topical issues without discussing the memes that were created around the subject.\u00a0For example when discussing the presidential debate between Trump and Clinton, you have to address the hilarious meme video manipulating them as though they were singing \u2018Time of my life<\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n More Information:<\/p>\n Antisocial memes<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.blog.buprojects.uk\/2016-2017\/oliviaveale\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/121\/2017\/01\/cyNFJJh-298x300.jpg\")
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