Jerrica Rowlett, Ph.D., stands in front of a packed Digital Communication classroom while, on the screen behind her, students scrutinize an image that, while wholly familiar to the digital natives, has never before transcended their phone screens and made its way to an academic display. The meme, a captioned image or video that’s meant to be humorous, depicts two ball pits — in the first pit, the multicolored balls are mixed, while the latter shows the balls grouped by a color. Accompanying the two images is a caption that reads: “I think there might be a kid with OCD issues near the ball pit.”

Addressing the class, Rowlett asks the students to discuss the following question: Do memes about mental health desensitize us to mental health issues?

Chatter erupts throughout the room as undergrads critically consider the material they’ve just viewed and its impact. Raising hands, they note that people may take memes — especially ones on depression or suicide — as a joke.

“Memes oversimplify mental health issues; they are surface level and perpetuate stereotypes,” says Rowlett, an assistant professor of Communication and Language Studies. “Additionally, individuals may self-diagnose if they fit some of the traits being projected through this content.”

The memeification of mental health is one of the many topics students are covering in Rowlett’s “Impacts of Digital Addiction” course within the College of Arts and Sciences’ Communication and Language Studies Department. Throughout the semester, students examine three overarching topics: technology addiction, internet humor, and pressures of online identity. They also tap into how software programming and engineered behavioral addiction leads people to spending massive amounts of time on their devices and online as well as the effects of consuming so many online messages in the form of internet memes, short videos, or friends’ posting their highlights.

“Some of the statistics we've looked at have been really surprising,” says Communication major Alex Gordon ’25. “One I think about more is how we’re going to spend one-third of our lives on screens going forward, which is crazy.”

Screen obsessed 

As someone whose research interests span social media, identity, civic engagement, and digital inequality, Rowlett gravitated toward thinking about how technology is changing individuals’ behaviors, relationships, and what that means in a broader scope. In creating this class, Rowlett decided to start the course with how technology designers use the natural biology of behavior addiction to keep people hooked online. It’s a topic that has since captivated her students’ attention.

“During one of the first several classes we had to look at our screen time,” says Leadership and Innovation Management major Charlotte Catarina ’25, who was shocked by the amount of time she was spending on Instagram and TikTok. “I became obsessed with my screen time and deleted all social media three weeks into this course. I’m wasting so much less time now and have been studying more.”

Digital Communication major Allison Kerr ’26 found herself in a similar boat.

“Since the beginning of this class, I’ve removed social media apps from my home screen, so I don't immediately tap on them. I also made it so I can't see the red bubble for notifications,” says Kerr.

The course then dives into internet memes and virality, online bullying, the ethics of sexting, and more. Keeping tabs on trends and hot topics, Rowlett also prompts undergrads to examine political memes and how people will make political decisions based on memes that resonate with them. 

Rowlett notes that over the course’s fifteen weeks, students complete three major projects. The first tasks undergrads with creating an educational program that addresses technology use for either children, teens, parents, the workplace, or home; the second charges students with critically analyzing memes and humor (think: very demure, Raygun breakdance, or viral TikTok sounds); and the third requires students to develop a blog responding to The Happiness Effect, a book that looks at the impacts of curating a perfect self through social media. 

“This class has shown me what could be considered an addiction. Most people wouldn’t consider being on your phone an addiction, because everyone does it, but when you really take into consideration how much people depend on it and how people can't go anywhere without their phone, it makes you realize how addicting it really is,” says Marketing major Tristan Jean-Louis ’25.  

More thoughtful interface 

Back in the classroom, students are discussing memes about depression. Rowlett — drawing upon a study that students read for homework — notes that individuals may share this content to increase their social capital through attention, feel less alone if they are going through a rough time, and unmask the curated self. 

“For many people, they feel like they're sharing the true version of themselves,” Rowlett says. “They get released from the burden of identity management because maintaining this positive identity of being happy and perfect all the time is exhausting.” 

The memes also tell us a lot about our current moment.  

“We see it being more socially acceptable to talk about mental health, but I still don't know that it's socially acceptable to talk about your own mental health and struggles,” Rowlett says. “I think the reason why depression and anxiety memes are so popular is because you're oftentimes still not comfortable talking about the nitty-gritty of what it actually means to go through a mental health crisis.” 

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Moving on to discuss how other mental health issues like PTSD, anxiety, and personality disorders are poorly portrayed through memes, Team and Project Management major Carmen Yebba ’25 raises her hand — adding drug use to the list. She then calls attention to insensitive memes that emerged following the death of One Direction member Liam Payne. 

While serious topics like this are taken lightly on the internet, Rowlett tells undergrads that there is a slight movement to counteract these insensitive memes. Accounts like Tumblr’s Fix Your Memes are crossing out toxic messaging — especially around mental health — and reframing it with a positive spin. 

As class comes to a close, Rowlett reminds students of upcoming due dates. When they return Thursday for their next lesson, the semester will be three-quarters of the way through, and she’ll soon be sending them on their way with the tools they’ve acquired throughout the last four months.  

“I hope students are mindful of tech use and the content they’re engaging with and how interpersonal connection can be hindered,” Rowlett says. “A lot of people recognize that they are on their phones all the time but don't think about how the content they’re consuming is affecting their behaviors and relationships."