Our morals don’t have to be as dark as our algorithms

Graphic by Rory Moon

Editor’s note: This article references gun violence and death.

A shift in political power accompanied by a global pandemic drove our culture to be chronically online in 2020. We needed the internet to communicate, work and access education. The beginning of this era was marked by waves of activism, seeing a surge in the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter protests which impacted policy and popular discussions.

Nearly five years later, my social media feed seems flooded with dark humor, making crude jokes of serious loss. Everything from the murder of George Floyd in 2020 to that of Charlie Kirk in 2025 have become popular AI-generated internet memes. Jokes regarding gun violence in elementary schools or regarding the tens of thousands who have died as a result of the war in Gaza make light of serious tragedy.

Slurs seem socially tolerable, “cancel culture” is as good as dead. But finding dark humor funny doesn’t mean we have to lose our sympathy for one another.

The highest level of the United States government retaliated against activism seen during the Biden administration, such as the condemnation of “radical” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.t in 2025. But these policy changes aren’t the only reason our culture has shifted away from more liberal mindsets that surged in 2020.

This shift on social media might have a bigger reflection of myself and my peers than our culture as a whole. Even though boycotts can actually hurt major corporations and reputation is vital to a company’s success, discussions around them have been losing momentum on my social media feed. Algorithms adapt to individuals, and my circle might have lost the same motivations for social change that it held 5 years ago.

Tynesha McCullers, PhD student studying rhetoric and digital media, researches the impact of digital discourse and meme culture and Black cyberculture as an Augustus and Witherspoon Fellow here at NC State. Social media being ingrained in our day to day, is not a new phenomenon.

“There is a time that folks will be taking things very seriously, or at least within your bubble, your algorithmic bubble,” McCullers said. “That does not mean that other folks are not taking it seriously, [but it also] doesn’t mean that memes were not circulating at the same time… There is a discrepancy in what folks are able to see and interpret.”

Offline realities play a major influence on our ability to actually connect and care about social issues. In 2025, the United States saw the worst year for hiring since the midst of a global pandemic. With society in financial crisis, people genuinely don’t have the time to focus on the same problems they did a few years ago.

The memes can help us cope with negative circumstances in our culture. But a lack of notable change has played a major role in people’s desire to advocate for the issues they genuinely care about — we lose motivation after our efforts seem meaningless.

“I cannot be concerned about what happened with George Floyd [when] I don’t know where my next meal is coming from,” McCullers said. “We can talk about the algorithms playing a role in a lot of this specifically for folks, just on a practical level, it’s hard to care about the things that [aren’t] related to a social fulfillment or being secure. You could be someone who is like, I protested, I did these things and look what it’s gotten us? Nothing… It drives a lot of that dark humor or that cynicism.”

It’s also unlikely big tech companies are going to change their social media algorithms anytime soon. Cycling the same cynical memes is proving successful — 64% of Americans find themselves doomscrolling on a regular basis.

Social media isn’t going away, but our empathy and willingness to listen to each other might be. Regardless of stance, we’re no longer making the same active pushes for cultural change. But discussing the way social media misrepresents information is a way to manage the cultural desensitization championed by modern meme culture.

“One of the consequences that kind of comes with the tech companies determining what you’re able to see … frames what becomes really important and what drives our culture,” McCullers said. “Being willing to have conversation about technology and what it’s doing on a cultural level, what it’s doing for us socially, is a way to address it.”

Ignoring social media isn’t the answer. This issue extends far beyond choosing to interact with conservative or liberal media. Those around us use social media to remain connected, and avoiding information risks the opposite.

“Don’t walk away from all of it,” McCullers said. “Don’t just throw it away because for better or worse, media is a part of our cultural conversation … it is important to be informed about society that you are a part of, that you are living in.”

If you’ve been dissuaded from the issues that matter to you, know that efforts of protest aren’t as worthless as they may seem. The people outside of your circles may have entirely different information regarding what’s going on in the world, but that should drive us to open these conversations. We don’t need to bring back cancel culture for accountability to exist.

Article originally published on Technician's website, found here.