No matter how we try and justify our habit, it is not easy to argue that meme consumption is something that is good for us. They shorten our attention span, encourage us to create a range of highly cringeworthy content, and in the very worst cases, they slowly begin to replace our ability to say anything witty or intelligent with a load of dumb references that many people won’t get. 

At the same time, it’s an easy trade off to make. We want fast and stupid entertainment, and memes contain this in multitudes. We have plenty of good reasons to want to be distracted, so we may as well make the best of the resources that are at our disposal. What they kill in brain cells, they make up for in contentment. While there is no meme out there that holds any nutritional value, at least they feed us in other ways.