Have you ever told someone something and then by the end of the day that one thing you said has spread all over school or work, but almost always is something completely different that what you orginally said? A meme is just like a rumor in the sense that it spreads like wild fire and pokes fun at someone or idea using technology to do the spreading. For instance, John Fitzgerald from Atlanta, GA was apart of match.com now has a meme dedicated to him based off a email he responded to with a girl who “winked” at him on this dating site. If you go to his page, you find a section called merchandise that he is promoting off this meme that was created for him. These pieces of merchandise are the memes. This photo is a shirt that you can purchase on his website, so in this case, the internet is not the only thing spreading this meme around. Meme’s can be spread by word of mouth just like a rumor. However, not all memes are meant to poke fun at someone or idea but made simply for humor. If you check out sites like Lolcats or faildogs these are memes that are used to be playful and for fun.
Memes are important in education because they are a way of connecting information that is out there now and barging in on us whether we want them to or not. The more information that you, as a teacher, bring to the classroom the more you can get your students interested, focused, and aware of what you are wanting them to take away from the lesson. For instance, you can use memes to talk about issues in Shakespeare or some other form of literature or history. Memes maybe like a virus to the human mind, but just as Richard Brodie said they are an epidemic that is affecting us now and growing more and more efficient at their job as the years progress. So why not embrace them for what they are and use them for the greater good?
