Viruses were the first memes

COVID went viral, and then COVID memes followed. Credit: cdc.gov

When I think of the expression “going viral,” I think of things like COVID and influenza -- viruses that spread readily to other people. That’s what I’ve been studying for years.

I don’t think right away of memes. But going viral means something spreads far and wide, and the origin of the internet term refers to infectious diseases. So going viral has been co-opted from my business of dealing with viruses.

That popped into my head when I was thinking about masks, and how more than 100 years ago in the 1918 influenza pandemic people resisted masking, similar to what we see today. And then I thought about contagion. I think about that a lot -- how stuff gets spread.

And then the term going viral flashed into my brain. I realized that we need to be clear about what we're talking about. Are we talking about internet memes, digital stuff? Are we talking about viruses? We're talking about both.

But the origin of the term is from my world of dealing with viruses and trying to stop virus spread. So that’s where all that came from.

Talking about contagion may make me sound boring. But if comparing viruses and memes helps people understand how things spread, well, whatever it takes.