It's recently come to my attention how hard it is to understand (and also explain) what they are.
The word “meme” describes a part of culture that developed because it was passed on from one person to another, usually by imitation.
So an internet meme is an image, text or video that’s copied and altered over and over again by different people usually to add their own funny change to the image or text.
It's a form of expressing your thoughts in a funny way for other people to enjoy.
Memes are often the same picture with altered text such as the "distracted boyfriend" meme below. Pay extra attention to the expressions and feelings of the people in the picture.
Compare this:
and this:
Both pictures are expressing how I imagine my old computer (or first cheeseburger) to feel while I am interested in the newer model of a computer (or a second cheeseburger.)
There are hundreds (or perhaps thousands) of versions of this same picture with different text expressing different thoughts on anything from hobbies to complex social issues.
Here's one more:
Finally, here's another meme picture format. This one is of the musician Drake and it's used to express a strong dislike and like of something:
And here's how the Drake meme format evolved while keeping the original emotion behind it:
Memes are probably a permanent part of internet culture so discovering them is a never-ending journey, but if you put in the effort to understand the format and the basic feeling behind it then I'm sure you'll eventually find something that'll make you smile.
(By the way, that cute kid on the blog cover is called the, "success kid" meme.)
AH