Likewise, the rate of meme consumption has increased exponentially, and continues to grow shorter.


Five years ago, memes were long lived and became well known among most of the populace; examples such as Insanity Wolf, Awkward Penguin, and Nyan Cat demonstrate this.


The memes themselves changed, of course. Nyan Cat gave way to MLG compilations, Confession Bear to 420 Blaze It and Darude Sandstorm. But these were still well known memes that were popular for month after month. They ushered in the era of dank memes, and were considered dank for a long period of time.


Sometime in the last three years, however, a turning point was reached. Memes became simple things, consumed for a few weeks before being discarded. Look at the popular memes in the last three months: Pass the Aux Cord, Robbie Rotten, Serbian Empire, Spongegar, Long Boy, Dat Boi- all these memes have remarkably short half lives before they lose their dankness.


Looking at meme trends, it appears memes have transcended to a higher plane of existence. Where older memes were focused on *images,* modern memes are focused on *ideas.* Though the pictures may change, the subject matter stays the same- school shootings, autism, gay mods, Star Wars, etc. In fact, the only image meme to survive is Pepe, and that’s only due to the association with political agendas and the resulting controversy.


I think this transcendence is responsible for the increased speed of creating new memes.