I like memes. Before anyone gets confused, when I say meme, I don’t mean to go to sleep, but "a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation," according to Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book, The Selfish Gene. I do like to sleep, though, and have fallen asleep in the most unlikely (and inappropriate) places and situations, but that’s a different story.

I'm not exactly sure, but I guess before the internet, chain letters were the most popular examples of memes. You remember, when elementary kids would painstakingly make copies of letters, send them to their friends and enemies (the goal here is quantity, not quality of recipients). The contents of these letters would vary. I vaguely remember some religious stuff, and some mystical stuff. Whatever the letter was about, it always came with a promise of good fortune (your crush will smile at you) if you passed it on and a threat (something bad will happen) if you chose not to. I'm pretty sure I participated at least once, despite not believing in the supposed consequences or rewards, which were pretty ridiculous.

That's the thing about memes. Memes, by their very nature, are fun to do. Why that is, I can't say. Maybe it's fun because everyone else is doing it. (Ever notice how meme, pronounced phonetically, sounds like sheep?) Maybe it's fun because it's easy, it kills time, and it takes very little effort. Well, maybe not handwritten chain letters. But years later, when internet memes were all the rage, that was quick and painless and easy.

A few years back, I had no real job (no office, no steady income). What I did have was an internet connection, and although it was dial up and went at the amazing speed of 33.6 kbps, it was free and “unlimited” (it would automatically disconnect after every thirty minutes). All day long I would read random blogs while waiting for The Lion King to download (this took a couple of months). Eventually, I discovered memes. Soon, my own blog became a bulletin board for memes - Which Beatles song are you? What movie is your life based on? What color is your aura? Which circle of hell do you belong to?

Certainly, finding the answers to such questions is utterly useless, except for the entertainment it provides and the instant image creation it allows. Of course, results can very easily be manipulated. If you don't like what comes out, you can just refresh and change your answers. But those memes weren't pretending to be anything more than what they were - something fun to do and pass along.

Fast forward to today. Livejournal has since been abandoned by ninety percent of my friends on the site, their blogs updated once a year with one-line posts usually along the lines of "It's been a while. I should update more often." or "This is a glitch in the matrix." What happened? Well, Facebook happened, of course. There is a sort of ongoing debate about social networking, and Facebook in particular. On one hand, it builds relationships by making communication convenient. On the other hand, it destroys them by stealing the show from good old face-to-face communication. Well, that's what they say.

I think Facebook is a tool, and a nifty one at that. It's technology, and it's still people who use it, not the other way around. So there isn't anything to be afraid of, really, unless for some reason you begin to lose your identity without it. In which case, you should probably go offline for a while.

For most people, Facebook has become a habit, and the main activity, it seems, is checking out other people's walls. The instant publishing of status messages makes Facebook an ideal platform for memes. Someone posts something, someone else picks it up, and in a matter of seconds whatever it is, has gone viral.

I always find it interesting when I see everyone doing the same thing, but unlike before, I'm not so sure about joining in the fun. For one thing, I'm a bit iffy about memes that supposedly raise awareness about breast cancer, or, support the campaign to stop violence against children. The latter has actually been clarified - it appears the meme began with the simple goal of eliminating human faces on Facebook. In fact, in copy-paste haste, the message has been confused as some people change their profile pictures to cartoon characters with the message "This is for the violence against children." Scary. (See story here.)

For another, let's say the meme really was started with a campaign to stop violence against children in mind. It still isn't clear to me how changing my profile picture to my favorite cartoon character is going to support that cause. It's Alf, who isn't even a cartoon character, but that's irrelevant - just as the color of my underwear is irrelevant to breast cancer awareness, as is where I like to put my handbag, if I had one, that is.

I doubt that anyone is actually inspired to do something to stop violence against children when they see a flood of images from their childhood television fare. If anything, seeing Skeletor, Rainbow Brite, The Simpsons, Olive Oyl, Mekanda Robot, Little Foot, and countless other cartoons probably makes them nostalgic, and I imagine some would be inspired to search for existing copies of the shows they miss. It’s also a great way to date yourself, and a nice alternative to the weather for small talk. “Hey, nice profile picture! I used to watch Captain Planet, too!” But I can’t imagine anyone seeing a cartoon and thinking, “I’m going to go and help UNICEF create a protective environment for children.”

I have nothing against memes. In fact, a friend once called me the mother of memes, when I would post four or five a day. I may just change my profile picture to a Smurf, or Gumby, because ultimately, it's fun. Though it probably won’t do any good, it’s also harmless. I still don't think it's going to help the campaign to stop violence against children, but I’m beginning to feel like an alien on Facebook. Alf would be perfect. Or, in the spirit of sheep, maybe I should use Lambchop? But I've always liked Garfield, too. Hmm, decisions, decisions.