Memes: Great Potential For Education
Nowadays memes are one of the most common ways through which people tend to express what they feel and think with respect to different situations. Memes are, strictly speaking, neither images nor words. They are somehow a combination of both. That is, the norm is that a meme will be constituted by an image with some text on it. People, especially young adults, or teenagers, tend to use them for essentially two purposes: describe and criticize paradoxical or contradictory situations. These descriptions or critics are usually framed in a humorous manner.
Since memes are expressions of feelings or thoughts they can be considered as clusters of meaning. According to the corresponding literature, memes are replicators of cultural units. It is said that in the same way that genes carry our genetic information through generations, memes transport clusters of meaning in the realm of culture. As Richard Brodie calls them, memes can be considered viruses of the mind. They can be spread fast through social media and the internet. The reason for this might be due to their visual nature and easiness with which they can be understood and manipulated.
Complex concepts and images can rarely pose some difficulties for understanding them. And perhaps this is the greatest achievement of memes. They can express complex ideas in such a way that most regular folks can make use of them. In this regard, I would say that the creation and spreading of memes have somehow democratized information and knowledge. Some people report that occasionally they are having a hard time trying to understand an idea and then they see a meme and gualá! They get it all at once!
And, as was said, memes not only help people understand complex ideas faster but also enable them to manipulate these ideas in innovative ways. Through the replications of memes, they can criticize cultural aspects of their society with which they are not in agreement. They can exteriorize a painful experience in a humorous way. They can portray contradictions in the political realm. The list of possibilities for manipulating memes is practically endless.
The question is then, why are we not using the strong educational potential of memes? If memes can help to express complex ideas in an easier way, why cannot we use them for educational purposes? Who knows, maybe we could even write poems and novels using memes!
