GIFference Conflict?: The Use of GIFs Among Generations

• Autores: Anita Buczek-Zawila, Krzysztof Idczak, Emilia Januś, Eryk Kowalczyk, Wiktoria Kozieł
• Localización: Difficult neighborhoods: the semiotics of conflict in culture / Sachiyo M. Shearman (ed. lit.), Wladyslaw Chlopicki (ed. lit.), Wladyslaw Witalisz (ed. lit.), Linda G. Kean (ed. lit.), 2025, ISBN 9781469696553, págs. 241-263
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • GIFs (short for Graphics Interchange Format) are image animated-format files, whichare typically used to express humor or other emotions, mainly by referencing memesor memorable tropes from TV shows and movies. The format is currently deemedpassé and apparently doomed to vanish from the public domain and popular use. Thisseems to permeate the web, where it is also emphasized that there appears to be a generational divide reflecting polarized attitude to using animated GIFs, with the youngest users claiming that GIFs are dated, “cringe,” and good only for baby boomers andmillennials. However, an examination of numerous websites and personal exchangesof TMC participants seems to call that claim into question. The present paper aimsto address conflicting views on using GIFs by members of various generations, as wellas to explore the communicative potential they offer in specific, emotionally-chargedexchanges. The evidence was collected via two quantitative instruments (two onlinesurveys, with 66 and 22 participants respectively), and one qualitative instrument (apersonal interview with a single interviewee). The findings indicate that the use ofGIFs has become largely generationalized; nonetheless, they are still used communicatively by the general public. One of the contexts where GIFs are still functional iswhen they are used as a response in a (TMC) argument or conflict situation, wheresuch files substitute for an actual verbal reaction (Quantitative Instrument 2). Respondents in Online Survey 1, i.e., members of the youngest generational cohort, use theformula slightly less frequently, but they do not hold any substantial negative feelingstoward GIFs. For baby boomers, they provide a means to develop and sustain interpersonal relations. Therefore, the data gathered appear to suggest that even thoughthis specific format has possibly lost some of its former currency, the probability ofGIFs causing (intergenerational) misunderstandings and conflict is rather remote