Working out the meme-ing of life

IHAD five phone conversations yesterday. I also had one Zoom, three Facetimes and 4,893,034 WhatsApp messages (85pc meme/video, 15pc meaningful interaction, like ‘Whose turn is it to cook dinner?’ from upstairs.) I also spoke to three neighbours in person from the driveway and there were emails. This is possibly more social interaction than I have in an average month. Obviously a lot of device-based comms are taking the socially distant place of in-the-flesh encounters. You’re Zooming people you would normally meet. But, with more time and fewer distractions, there is just a lot more chitty chatting going on. There have been some odd ones. The Ex Factor is strong, lots of people are hearing from folk they once dated, if only for an hour. “Hi, How are you?” um, “Hi, Who are you?” Funny enough these seem to peak late at night.

The meme factor is also strong and it has evolved. In the beginning it was all Covid-19 based memes and TikToks, there was such a deluge and something so insidious about them that even people who never sent you a meme in their life were forwarding them. Meme habitués went into overdrive, my phone nearly burst because someone had forwarded 52 at once. Maybe that was some kind of Covid-19 defiance but whether the supply is waning or it no longer seems so humorous, there has been a slide towards service messages. Now it’s more links to articles and yoga tips interspersed with toilet roll dominoes and singing kids. The thing with time poverty is that you barely have time to see the people you want to see, or you tell yourself that. Exes and meme overkill notwithstanding, having this extra time to communicate has been lovely.