Memes

A meme can be defined as an idea or behavior that evolves socially and culturally being passed from individual to individual. It can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures or rituals. In that sense an internet meme “is simply the propagation of a digital file or hyperlink from one person to others using methods available through the Internet (for example, email, blogs, social networking sites, instant messaging, etc).” (wikipedia) I started looking at Texts from Last Night, which has developed into a subconscience internet phenomenon. It combines the medium of text messaging with the medium of the internet. It has somehow infiltrated our culture and essentially our minds as everyone I know posts Texts from Last Night, on their facebook, they text them to one another and they are always a topic of conversaion among friends.

Memes promote writing and critical use of technology, because they become a subconcious part of our culture. They also respond to a natural selection of sorts because some of the memes survive while others are passed over; what continues becomes further ingrained into our culture, and what does not falls by the way side.