It's not just about the format. Old
internet memes (circa 2006-2015) were generally less obnoxious, less obscene, less grotesque, less stupid, less
deadpan, less political, and just generally more graceful and lighthearted. You never took them seriously, and they always made you smile or laugh (NOT smirk!)
Today's memes often leave you
smirking rather than smiling or giggling, as the meme often plays with the more ironic,
farce and
brazen side of humour. This makes for a less "happy" experience as such. Certainly not something you'd be consuming/posting unironically, unlike
nyan cat, animal advice, and
lolcat memes.
Another difference between modern and
old memes is the level of irony. Obviously memes of all kinds is not meant to be taken seriously, but most modern memes will add a layer of irony on top of a seemingly serious context to make it seem funny or silly.
Old memes are just funny or silly by its very nature.
Old memes can be virtually understood by anyone of any demographic and the humour is often naturally communicated by the image. Modern memes tend to be too ambiguous to be understood correctly by everyone and the humour is specific to a certain demographic (i.e. Gen Z teenagers). Serious
debriefing is required to understand most modern memes, even the ones with zero meaning.
Overall, old memes just had that quirky yet graceful charm that modern memes lack. Old memes rule, don't let anyone tell you otherwise (and if they do, they're probably a zoomer).
Examples of old
memes include:
-LOLcats
-Animal advice
-Rage comic memes (includes
trollface)
-Bad luck brian
-Good guy steve
-Nyan cat
-Facepalm guy
-Feels guy
-Doge (semi-modern)
-Cartoon
spiderman memes
-and much much more