Are grippers a meme?

They're helpful for forearm strength which you need when you're deadlifting a lot or rowing a lot. Also pretty good for bass guitar.

I find grip strength to be really helpful in day to day activities, in my work I see kids with week little wrists but with generally strong arms and I see them struggle and it's almost comical.

They make you awesome at handshakes. Grip strength in general is surprisingly specific, though. Nothing will make you nearly as good at static holds as doing static holds, and so on.

static holds