A lot of comments here suggest that the author's just getting older. At 56, with a pretty strong appreciation of most memes, I think it's a bit more nuanced. It

A lot of comments here suggest that the author's just getting older. At 56, with a pretty strong appreciation of most memes, I think it's a bit more nuanced. It's not their appreciation of memes that declines as most people get older, but their tolerance for overuse. The first comparison I would make is to drinking. There's no stigma attached to binge drinking in college, but when somebody in their thirties is still doing it people start to view it with concern and/or distaste. Similarly, still being in Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra mode at that age is seen as a failure to advance in life. Really, it's all about appropriate vs. excessive use, and variety vs. monotony. The other comparison I'd make is to swearing. Some people - especially older people - don't want to hear any at all. At the other end of the spectrum are people who can't seem to get through a sentence without five F-bombs. Most folks go through a stage early on where they swear a lot, then learn that overuse dilutes swearing's impact. They learn other ways to express strong feeling and switch among them. Similarly, some people go through a stage of meme overuse before they learn to mix memes with other ways to get an idea or feeling across for best effect. (I particularly wish more tech presenters would hurry up and learn that BTW.) Memes are just one way to express yourself, and they're often a great way, but there are other ways too and they all work better when they're used to complement each other. I think the OP is working up to that realization.