Meme #5: Zoom is the Best
(i) Source:
Page Title: “Zoom Memes for Self-Quaranteens”
Date Meme Published: April 19, 2021
Page States: 881.3K members
Descriptive Blurb: “Socially isolated college youth stuck doing online courses in closed universities.”
Webpage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/zoommemes
(ii) Text:
(iii) Texture:
This meme is structured in this way to point out the contrast between what adults told (and often tell) prospective and current college students as a way to contextualize their college years as a wonderful time before their adult responsibilities kick in after graduation, and what they actually experience. The meme’s creator pointedly contrasts this with the often-disheartening reality of online instruction, with “dissociating,” the exact opposite of being immersed in the college world said to be so wonderful.
(iv) Context:
This post received 10K likes and reactions, 994 comments, and 692 shares, indicating its popularity. Clearly, quarantined and cynical students are connecting to the meme’s message, and it fits with the Facebook group’s title. Many comments went something like these examples: “I dissociate within the first 30 minutes lmmaooo,” “what makes you think I survive 6 hours,” and “don’t even ask me about college rn J.”
(v) Interpretation:
The caption attached to this meme encapsulates its creator’s own Zoom-related blues: “Zoom (o)wns half of my entire (c)ollege experience.” This page and memes like this are expressions from students mourning their lost “best years.” This is an interesting example of cyberlore the pandemic has generated, something that would not have existed otherwise. It’s likely that online programs like Penn State’s generate some similar memes, but not to the point that they dominate entire Facebook pages like this. This meme is a poignant example of the bitterness and sense of loss that so many college students are currently experiencing, and the use of “dissociation” to describe their zoned-out states during class is indicative of the depth at which these students feel removed from the college experience. It’s really quite sad.
Conclusion:
Obviously these are all memes, but what do they share other than their formats? For one, they all use humor to communicate something the poster is feeling or thinking, and make it relatable and visible to other students. While they appear lighthearted and frivolous on the surface, all five of these memes (with the possible exception of the second) deal with rather heavy subjects and deeply felt emotions. The first deals with an inner sense of failure, the third with mental illness and the struggles of young adulthood, the fourth with hypocrisy, and the fifth with a sense of loss. While Trevor Blank’s The Last Laugh is geared towards humor generated by disasters, the deaths of public figures, and tragedies, there are still some connections to be made here. According to him, “a great deal of the response to disaster or tragedy is rooted in the desire to reach a point of emotional stability and neutrality whereby the events at hand do not carry the heavy emotional burden that they did upon first impact.” I believe that in the case of these memes, they are tools used to self-soothe by lightening students’ emotional burdens and by reassuring them that they aren’t alone in their experiences. Even during the best of times, it seems that the age of social media and texting has reduced face-to-face interaction, often resulting in a sense of isolation and disconnectedness for young people. I personally believe that this is responsible, at least in part, for the prevalence of social anxiety in today’s society, simply because (mostly) young people) generally get less exposure to and fewer opportunities for social interaction. Memes help to reduce some of this effect by bringing these commonly held experiences into a visible, highly shareable format within which students can see themselves, and perhaps more importantly, laugh at. Even better, they can personalize the same meme formats already in use, thereby making them more culturally accessible right off the bat. Dark and/or biting humor is frequently used by people during difficult times in their lives, and it truly can be an effective coping mechanism. Cyberlore makes these unspoken and sometimes stigmatized issues something that can be talked about and laughed at. Laughter has the power to reduce stress, feelings of loneliness, and can, as Trevor says, lighten emotional burdens. Memes are now an integral mode of communication and self-expression for the college students of today, and thus deserve more serious folkloric attention because of this.