Memes to most people are simple images with amusing text on them. However, for others, they act as a spread of ideas, gaining attention from a worldwide audience.

According to “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, the term “Meme” was coined to show the spread and replication of human ideas such as cultures, religions, and other beliefs.  

As of the early 2000s, memes have been used to create movements or support for a belief. One example being the MeToo movement in 2017, which started out as an image of a rice bowl with a bunny changing into a movement to expose harassment.

Another example of memes being used to start a movement was in December 2021, where Ukraine posted memes on Twitter about the eventual war with Russia to gain support and encourage thousands to discuss how tragic it would end up.

WJPS teacher, Ms. Bonanni noted, “I would mostly use them in friendly conversation, but reacting to them is also useful for information.”

WJPS teacher, Ms. Shields stated, “You can combine an image with text to get a message across and it’s a fast way to share information.”

Memes in general are used as a sense of information and should probably be used to spread information around to raise awareness. A solution to this would be to share memes to a large audience to spread awareness.

“meme” by Dianna Geers is marked with CC0 1.0.