#ThisGeneration

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About

#ThisGeneration is a photoshop meme based on a series of images created by Ajit Johnson Nirmal that illustrate the current generation's dependence on technology. The series is a parody of the common forum board criticism le wrong generation, instead depicting the current generation as being too dependent on technology.

Origin

The first images were created by London-based artist Ajit Johnson,^[1] and featured on the website Distractify on March 31st, 2015,^[2] and on Johnson's tumblr, receiving over 140,000 notes in a week.^[7]

Spread

On April 6th, 2015, Imgur^[8] user MERYLimPeril uploaded a variant of the image featuring different inflammatory keywords arranged in a word cloud, and changing the bottom line to read "#YOURGeneration". In two days, the image received -8 points.

During the following days, more parodies of the series spread on Tumblr,^[3] Twitter,^[4] and Instagram^[6] under the hashtag #ThisGeneration.

Criticism

Johnson's campaign has been seen as a generational criticism. On April 7th, tumblr user inshepardwetrust uploaded a new version of the parody, reversing the anti-technology claim (shown below). The image garnered over 22,000 notes in one day.^[9]