Meme aggression and meme-bullying: a model for analyzing meme use among teenagers

Abstract

Agression is an expression of adolescent memetic production. We define meme aggression and meme bullying as aggressive practices that are exercised through memes with the intention of offending and discriminating, emphazing physical, socio-economic, ideological, or behavioral characteristics. In this text, we propose a model based on the General Aggression Model (Anderson and Bushman, 2002) and Jakobson's Communication Circuit (1960) to analyze these practices. The emotions are analyzed using the theory of power-status (Kemper, 1978), where the offender and the targeted adolescent manifest structural, anticipatory, and consequential emotions. For this analysis, we conducted a mixed methods approach based on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of 33 interviews of young people aged 15–17 years using the MAXQDA software. The proposed meme-bullying and meme-aggression model allows us to identify the roles and emotions involved in the circulation of messages. Finally, we highlight that adolescents do not realize the seriousness of such practices. However, they are aware of the emotional and self-image damage they are causing others. Creativity is the turning point to provoke laughter in the midst of a problem that must be visible to avoid promoting and accepting its normalization.