What it means to “meme”

They say in certain "memes" on social media that we all crave that bag of shredded cheese at 3AM. But what is a meme? And what is it to really crave something?

Before Louis C.K. got cancelled, I posted on social media an image of him with words over it, his words: "When a person tells you that you hurt them, you don't get to decide that you didn't."

I thought about my life with that quote, reflected on my past. In one image, I had a reason to think about things outside of myself.

I know, you're thinking. Welcome to the internet.

But isn't it crazy, that one image on the internet can summarize all my problems in one easy, digestible square of pixels?

But memes are also pointless. They're catty, or stupid, or not funny. They are why we are addicted to social media. Or, for most people, maybe. That little square that can get you to laugh, or think, or in the case of "Happy New Year 2024", make you think a quote can change your year, your life, your mindset.

I don't eat shredded cheese out of the bag at 3AM. But what is depicted in that meme is something else - a certain despair, coming across as humor. Which is of course what memes are - their entire point.

Perhaps they are the mindset, the mantra, of the Millennial generation.

Their entire point is to keep you addicted, so you keep reopening the same three social media apps over and over until you yourself become what you sought to avoid: being just like everyone else.

And, just maybe, that could be a meme in and of itself.