Memes of Care: Good Morning Images and Digital Care among Older People in Taiwan

Abstract

Every morning, images carrying greetings and pictures of girls, cute animals, or beautiful flowers are circulated among Taiwanese older people on the messaging app LINE. These “good morning images” (GM images) are building a new social network for seniors, and its ritual of exchange has produced a digital subculture. In this article, I will be considering these images as “memes of care.” While memes for younger people are usually humorous and meant to raise a laugh, for older people, GM images are about care and connection. However, care is never innocent and not always desirable, and GM images have joined a sharing culture within LINE that precipitates the spread of unverified, authorless rumors. By examining the “care-ful” feelings, doings, and obligations of GM images, I show how older people actively participate in the practice of digital care so as to open up to “as well as possible” reconfigurations engaged with troubled presents—that is, the pandemic and social isolation on the one hand, and the proliferation of false and misleading information on the other.