topherchris

My Thoughts on the Internet, Part 1

There were memes before the internet, of course, and Kilroy is one of my favorite examples. If you were alive during World War II, you saw him all over the place. Nobody’s sure how it started, what it means, or why it spread so far.

Graffiti has been around in various forms since the height of the Roman Empire, and its existence encapsulates many of the same traits inherent in the most exciting things happening on the internet today. People instinctively want to communicate and connect with one another, and they don’t want a high barrier of entry holding them back — whether the barrier is the need for an expensive and complex printing press or an expensive and complex data center.

Television has defined our culture since around 1950. That means more than that we all know who Walter Cronkite, Johnny Carson, and Oprah Winfrey are. It also means that we’re trained to be consumers of a broadcast model where a few create the content for all.

This didn’t happen because it was the best option, or because it’s what people wanted. It happened because, at the time, you needed your own radio tower to reach so many people. We never decided that it’d be best for four corporations to run popular culture for us. It was simply a matter of technology holding us back.

That’s rapidly changing now. Everywhere. From the writer who self-publishes her own book to a kid who records his own bizarre videos to everything you’ve ever seen on Tumblr, individuals have more power to contribute to their own cultural experience now than ever before.

Memes, blogging, photoshops, remixes, mashups… These are what drive the internet, but more importantly, the need to create and share is what drives us.