Have you seen this video? Of course you have. Doesn’t matter which one I’m talking about. You saw it in a tweet or on Facebook or in someone’s blog. Within days everyone we know has seen it. Then we’re all discussing it as though it were an event we saw on our way to work, only somehow we all live on the same street.

But what actually happened was we were all infected by a virus which we happily helped spread. The virus did not infect our computers. That’s just the delivery mechanism. It infected our brains. It ate up thought cycles we used to use for other things. The virus is smart. It softens the blow of the payload with some anesthetic amusement, tickling the proper receptors so that we feel like we’ve been thinking about something even though we’ve gained zero nutritional content. Plus its got celebrity endorsement. You saw it on a cool person’s Twitter, right?

We’ve gained nothing while giving up quite a bit.

The meme is not communication. The meme is not the technocommune gathering around the fire to share something as a group. But it would like you to feel that way. We want to feel a part of something, so we swallow the new slang and grant it the same privileges as language. Sharing a link has the same emotional investment as sharing a stick of gum, but it has become the currency of our online peers, a hundred tiny Voight-Kampff tests to prove we are as cool as we think. Do you see what I did there?

The meme has to do its job quickly. If it moved any slower we could see its true form: a nascent cliche. Because what is it called when, instead of nurturing original thought, you  just grab the off the shelf pre-fab idea that everyone already understands? No danger of misunderstanding or estrangement if we trot out that faithful dog with the endearing limp that never fails to win the crowd.

Ironically, the people who create memes are not to blame. Why? Because they created a concept powerful enough to pursue its own self-preservation. They contributed while everyone else consumed.

While I don’t fear we’re slowly being turned into a group of homogeneous lemmings standing on tip toes, ready to lap up the first dewdrop of fresh smack from YouTube’s tit, there is still cause for concern. Be wary of the laziness you are introducing into your life. Consider the mental exercises you are avoiding because you think you’re getting a workout from your RSS feed. Ask yourself if what you’re looking at is inspiring or just another nail in the coffin of that project you keep putting off.

Are your words your words or just street cred? Do your concepts have backlinks to digg.com?

Are you participating or are you just doing it for the LOLz?

Tags: memes, twitter