Like many of us I suppose, I have been thinking about
what makes this pandemic different from other points in history. I know it
still feels like we are still riding the wave of this virus, but at a certain
point the COVID-19 pandemic will be a memory, and our lives today will become
part of the history books. As part of history unfolding, I wonder about what
our society will be defined by.
Some of us like to look in the past to find areas of
history similar to this one, and unfortunately one that continuously keeps
coming up is the plague or the Spanish Flu. What marks this current time
different from the past, however, is our access to instant communication. Any
time there is a new death from COVID-19, the world is informed of that, and the
daunting statistics rise. You could be watching the television for breaking
news and have a notification on your phone come in at the exact same time with
the same news bulletin. What do you do then? The vast majority of us share it.
We share it so other people are not missing that specific piece of news.
Another thing that defines our time is the meme
culture cultivated by millennials. At this point, if you look at a meme and you
don’t understand it then that causes a bit of panic because you feel like
you’re missing out on widely known information. Of course it could also mean
that you’re not actively involved in that specific subset of memes. You could
have access to an endless supply of memes from one specific group, but be completely
oblivious to something from another group (such as memes that are location
specific or from a specific tv show). A
couple years ago in a philosophy of science class, I learned that the idea of
memes came from an understanding of the way information is generated and passed
on. A Smithsonian article from 2011 indicates that we live in a biosphere,
which is “an entity composed of all the earth’s life-forms, teeming with
information, replicating and evolving” (Gleick). The general idea is that information
has “spreading power”, and that humans are largely responsible for that. Meme
culture comes into play when we transmit those ideas with a single image. For
example, most of us have seen the meme of Willy Wonka with a judging look on
his face. The reference for this meme is different, but the message remains the
same. Once you understand the reference you can understand the meme.
Interestingly, you can also understand the meme even if you haven’t seen the
movie. If you have seen one meme with that face that you understand, then you
may be able to understand other memes with that same image.
Of course, the danger with memes and their spreading
culture is that misinformation can be spread just as quickly. This is where
covid 19 comes in again, because false information about the virus can be
spread quickly. Indeed, we are living in a time where there is so much
information that it can be overwhelming and daunting in trying times such as
these.
Even so, we rely on digital technology for
information, communication, and human interaction. Digital technology has
become so crucial to our day to day lives that it can be hard to separate
ourselves from it. Something I am asking myself is how different this pandemic
would be if we didn’t have digital technology.
That question was partially answered throughout my
reading of The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. Unfortunately, I
could not escape the current world situation in my reading, as the main
character in this novel was forced to be separated from her family because of a
quarantine in her family’s living quarters in 17th century Holland.
The main character was working and living with another family so she could not
visit her family on the weekends like she normally would. She was forced to
find out about the quarantine and her sister’s illness from a butcher, whom she
could only communicate with at certain times. This lack of information about
your own family would not occur in our current digital age, considering our
immediate access to technology.
Limited access to technology can also create social
alienation. I have known people in my life who for personal reasons have
decided not to be on social media but have been somewhat isolated for that
reason. Questions like “Didn’t you see that on Facebook” are frequent, and they
still have to rely on people with social media for social updates, event
information, and such like. The immediate assumption is that every person you
meet is on some form of social media. Even when you meet someone for the first
time and make a connection, the next thought is to often inquire if they are on
social media.
Throughout this quarantine, I also read Educated by
Tara Westover. The alienation expressed in this memoir is more extreme, as the
author of this novel grew up with a survivalist family that resisted the
influence of doctors, schooling, and mainstream society. An aspect of the novel
I want to point out, however, is that the author finally gained an
understanding of world events she was missing when she went to school and used
the computer to google the Holocaust. This was an area of history that she had
not been exposed to before because her family limited her access to the outside
world. The computer was a device with which she gained understanding of the
world around her, and was symbol of the wealth of information in the world.
Embracing technology is what led her to enter the 21st century and
the digital age.
My intention is not to turn everyone towards embracing
technology, as much as my intent is not to turn people away from it either. I
want us to acknowledge that digital technology is part of our world view, and
it cannot be ignored no matter how you approach it. Without a doubt, our
connection to technology and digital communication has given us a connection to
the world, which reminds us that we are not alone in this situation. We are all
in this together.
Works mentioned
Gleick, James. “What Defines a Meme?” Smithsonian
Magazine. 2011 <https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778/>https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/what-defines-a-meme-1904778
Chevalier, Tracy. The Girl with the Pearl Earring.
1999
Westover, Tara. Educated. 2018.
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