I cannot disagree more.

They only get that way because people are unaware and careless, or even worse it could be that someone was trying to remove the author's credit.

The more quality that is lost means the more detached it is from the creator and literally the more difficult it is to read. Many memes stem from an artist's work, like a comic or photograph, the rest are a majority text.

Sure, for some memes, it really doesn't matter and just adds to the character. Those are generally shitposts anyway. But for the ones based around people's art it shows a lack of respect to the artist because their name has been stripped off and shitty watermarks slathered over it. Then for the other side, it shows disrespect to the people you share it with because you are not showing care for their ability to see the artwork or even know where that art came from. While the text portions are more and more difficult to read, which just sucks in general, and can sometimes mean you are left out entirely for people with visual disabilities.

I understand your desire to try to characterize it as 'age' or some sort of growth of character, but that ultimately dismisses the carelessness involved which does have a negative impact for both the creators and the viewers.