By ZACH STUBBLEFIELD

The presidential debate definitely provided some cringe-worthy moments Tuesday night. Whether it be Republican candidate Donald Trump fighting to protect his ego or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton sounding more rehearsed than a Broadway actor at times.

All of these moments provided ammo for Internet personalities to make memes. A meme is a slightly altered picture or video that is made to be shared across the Internet.

These memes were being posted real time as the debate was going on. Clinton or Trump would say something and 30 seconds later it would already be on social media being made fun of.

While this is not a bad thing in and of itself, it does become problematic when that is the only way people get their news from the debate.

Many of my contemporaries told me and even bragged that they did not watch the debate. Instead, they just watched Twitter.

It makes sense that people would gravitate towards memes. They are much funnier than someone droning on about the debate on a live news station. They are also a lot quicker to digest than a late night show host’s take on an issue. Memes are convenient and funny, but they should not be one’s sole source of news.

Memes are convenient and funny, but they should not be one’s sole source of news. They are often too bias and almost never tell the full story. A Photoshopped picture of Trump in a toilet or a video of Clinton being made in a factory is not the same as actually sitting down and watching the debate.

Memes can be used to supplement one’s knowledge about an issue, but it should not be his or her only source of information about the issue.