By this point, the Harlem Shake has peaked, with the fleeting brilliance of the many other memes that preceded it. Eventually, people will turn, and the same easy humor that defines a meme will become as obnoxious as it becomes ubiquitous.

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may be unfamiliar with the Harlem Shake. The videos are short, usually 30-45 seconds long, using a clip from the song “Harlem Shake” by American DJ Baauer. For the first few seconds, one person dances clumsily and intensely while the surrounding people pretend to be completely absorbed in whatever they’re doing. When the bass drops, the camera cuts to everyone dancing (masks and costumes optional).

(It should be said that the dance being done in the videos is not the actual Harlem Shake, which was a dance moved created by a man named Al B. in 1981, in Harlem, New York.)

There is a strange charm to the ridiculousness that a physical description can’t encapsulate — a certain je ne sais quoi that inevitably leads to comparisons to Gangnam Style.

But although both the Harlem Shake and Gangnam Style are viral music videos with catchy music and awkward dancing, the Harlem Shake is more of an involved attempt, with multiple people creating and uploading their own versions. Gangnam Style, on the other hand, was a totally manufactured and calculated endeavor, probably with more staying power as well, as it wasn’t so much a meme as an inescapable takeover.

With the popularity of musical memes and viral music videos, the Billboard Top 100 has elected to take into account number of views on YouTube. People have jumped on the bandwagon, as well: major media outlets have covered the Harlem Shake, and if you search “do the harlem shake” on YouTube, the screen will imitate the dance.

Of course, these trends usually last only a month or so, until it reaches overexposure and becomes hated, until there are only a few people still using it (ironically or not). Maybe it’s just that memes are only funny for a little while.

But the cycle of “cool one day, passé the next” is strikingly similar to the hipsters who claim they liked something before it was cool. Instead of trying to surge ahead to escape the old and meet the new, maybe we should take a step back and stop being such fair-weather fans of the latest trends. Or, better yet, just go with the flow and genuinely like the things you like.