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Memes may Contribute to Teenage Obesity, Lawmakers Told

posted by martyb on Saturday October 20 2018, @08:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the GIGO dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Memes carry dangerous health-related messages and make light of unhealthy eating habits, researchers from Loughborough University wrote in a letter sent to a British parliamentary committee.

"A substantial number of individuals on Twitter share health-related Internet memes, with both positive and negative messages," they wrote, noting that many "contain inappropriate material."

A picture of an overweight child with the caption "Free food? Count me in!" was sent along with the letter as an example of a meme the researchers found dangerous.

The academics were also concerned by a meme that created a human-like body from pictures of pizzas and hamburgers, with frankfurters used for limbs and a smiley-faced potato for a face.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/18/health/internet-memes-obesity-intl/index.html

Monkey see, monkey... eat?

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Sunday October 21 2018, @02:10AM (3 children)

    by Rich (945) on Sunday October 21 2018, @02:10AM (#751545) Journal

    Here's a Kate Moss meme: https://favim.com/image/1956270/ [favim.com]

    That should more than make up for it. Case closed. Can we have a nerdy technical topic now, please?

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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:46AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:46AM (#751613)

    Can we have a nerdy technical topic now, please?

    It may not be technical, but in a way this is one of the archetypal nerd topics; Nerds (Meme makers) vs Jocks (Report Authors), if you want to add a technical slant then look at their submission to the UK Parliament and start taking apart their premise.

    • (Score: 2) by Rich on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:53AM

      by Rich (945) on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:53AM (#751615) Journal

      start taking apart their premise.

      Before I waste any of my precious lifetime on such a futile effort, I'd rather just Godwin the discussion: https://imgflip.com/i/1274y8 [imgflip.com]

  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:39PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:39PM (#751705) Homepage Journal

    Can we have a nerdy technical topic now, please?

    Submit one.

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