“I’m trying to go viral, but so far I’m just a sniffle.”
J.L. Madore
SWAN OF THE WEEK, NUMBER 141
Happy Friday!
Let’s all wash our hands, take a deep breath, and be kind to each other as we cope with all the emotions, fears and realities of a pandemic.
Out of an abundance of caution and concern for the well-being of my fellow Minnesotans, I cancelled the MN Nice Meetup at South by Southwest this week. This is the first time in 14 years I won’t be attending SXSW and don’t make this decision lightly. But it’s too important to be proactive and safe right now. We had almost 100 RSVPs, so you can be sure we’re reschedule in 2021!
The definition of viral is 1) of, relating to, or caused by a virus, and 2) quickly and widely spread or popularized especially by means of social media. It’s pretty well established that “going viral” is based on viruses, right?
So it was quite laughable this week when a University of Vermont study has found that some contagious diseases such as pneumonia and flu are transmitted in a similar manner to memes. OMG!! No way?!?
And there are a host of COVID 19 memes being shared right now. I won’t link to them and am not posting them. But I acknowledge humor is a way that humans cope with stress and uncontrollable variables.
#Quarantine is trending on TikTok. Pinterest is trying to combat misinformation when you search Coronavirus. IsItCanceledYet.com will tell you what upcoming events are canceled.
There’s even a new site called Quarantine Chat: “Talk on the phone with someone else stuck at home.”
And https://donottouchyourface.com helps you not touch your face using a machine learning algorithm and your computer’s webcam. Clever, and useful!
Anxiety can feel serious and heavy. Focusing on humor, silliness and memes can help. Just please be conscious of what you’re sharing in social media and the fact that people are sick and dying. It’s better not to post than have to delete it later. Right? Riight?
See you on the internet!
Greg
GREG SWAN 