Technology

40861 readers

436 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

remington@beehaw.org

alyaza@beehaw.org

TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org

gyrfalcon@beehaw.org

rs5th@beehaw.org

coldredlight@beehaw.org

SemioticStandard@beehaw.org

The ‘Great Meme Reset’ Is Coming: From Jack Dorsey to Gen Alpha, everyone seemingly wants to go back to the internet of a decade ago. But is it possible to reverse AI slop and brain rot? (www.wired.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by alyaza@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

archive.is link

Memes are getting a reboot. Not like a Marvel-is-trying-to-make-Fantastic Four-happen-again reboot. More like a rewind. The Great Meme Reset of 2026, as it’s being called on TikTok, demands that on January 1 all memes revert to their 2010s glory days. Bland “brain rot” and AI-looking memes are out; Big Chungus is in.

As with anything on the internet, the origin of the Great Meme Reset is hard to place. Most sources point to a March post from TikTok user @joebro909 that called for a whole new generation of memes to save the platform from the “drought” that had engulfed it in the spring. The post said nothing of a January 1 launch date, or a return to the memes of the last decade, but the idea was planted. Now hundreds of posts are discussing the reboot—and a return to the internet’s “dank” era.

Which implies, of course, that memes lack dankness these days. If anything, Gen Z– and Gen Alpha–fueled internet culture has prided itself on somewhat meaningless content like “6 7” and absurdist, seemingly AI-generated “Italian brain rots,” but after nearly a year of memes with little humanity or depth, a backlash has begun.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] adespoton@lemmy.ca 32 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Why not revert to the Internet of the 1990s, before it was commercialized and before Internet became synonymous with Web Services?

Of course, the truth is, even back then, there were a lot of dark memes on Usenet.

[–] Ooops@feddit.org 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Why not revert to the Internet of the 1990s, before it was commercialized

Because the idea is pushed on commercial platforms that would suppress the idea otherwise. There are probably more people spanning several generations wanting that internet back. After all that's a comment you can read dozens of times a day. But you won't see that message spread on the usual platforms and neither see other media pick up the story.

load more comments (5 replies)