Non-memetic Moments

It's very easy today to capture a moment and share it for all to see. Our cellphones are the most common method of doing so - with increasingly higher fidelity cameras and microphones at every price point - resting comfortably in our pockets. Sharing art, a concert, a meal, a family, a cat, or a comedy is as effortless as double-clicking the power button and hitting "record".

Those moments are memetic, in that they can be preserved and shared as a meme. A meme, as defined by the Encyclopedia Brittanica, is a unit of cultural information spread by imitation. We as individuals produce dozens, sometimes hundreds, of memes every single day. Every note, text message, picture, and video that we take is copied from our brains or the real world and saved into a hard drive. We may share these captured moods and moments with others, or we may treasure them for ourselves.

The issue that we have run into time and time again with sharing these memes is that they do not fully capture the complete extent of the experience. A camera may take the image, anda recording can add audio and temporality, but conveying the scents and feel, the history and outcome, is limited by the medium. That's why we're not sharing memories, only the limited fragments of the memes.

Each moment contains memetic and nonmemetic qualities. A camera can catch the interior of a room, but it may not be able to truly capture the dappled light spilling in through a window, partially broken up by the hanging curtains. Losing these nono-memetic qualities to the moment does not mean that these moments should never be recorded in the first place. It means that you must decide what information saved - and what information lost - means to you. Great memers understand this. They use tools - photo editos, camera lenses, different brushes - to highlight what could be saved, to draw the viewer into what in that meme was most significant to the memer. Memers are also oadept at conveying what could not be captured. They make the viewer yearn to be in that moment, to break through the meme and enjoy the experience for themselves. Many memers are reckless with this power - or straight-up abuse it - and this can lead to the viewer having FOMO, depression, and anxiety. Handled well, these memes give the viewer a flimpse into the joy and awe that we experienced.

As an aside, memes are not a modern invention that began with the camera and the internet. Poetry is a meme. Oil paints are memes at scale, comissioned by those who demanded to be remembered. Impressionism is a meme, highlighting colours while decreasing detail, and yet those paintings can feel realer than real. Dadaism is also a meme, cutting out dteails and using humour to convey what in that moment the memer wants to accentuate the most.

There is a beauty in less-memeable moments. There is a fragility that comes with the understanding that what is being witnessed is special and not easily replicable. These less memeable moemnts are what drives us to exploration and adventure. These moments drive us to encourage our loved ones to expand their boundaries. There exists moments beyond the confines of our screens and our books and our arts, moments that can only be recorded in our fleeting memories.

Go out and capture these memes, and use them to drive others to expereince the rest of the moment for themselves.

Anyway, here are some of my holiday photoes from my holiday last week to the Canary Islands.