Media impacts everyone’s daily life. My children glue themselves to the iPad and only the strongest of hands can separate them from the sticky mess. I watch as my father-in-law presses his ear against his phone listening for the latest news report. My own eyes are frequently scanning screens, as I look for the freshest take on life.
A few weeks ago, everyone dreamed of going viral. Finding out that something you posted online was being consumed by millions of people, meant automatic fame and newfound wealth.
Unfortunately, the tide can shift without warning. We now find ourselves locked into the media due to panic surrounding actual viruses. Suddenly, the term viral is far more real. It turns out, viruses disseminate through populations in logarithmic fashion. They lay in the weeds for days to weeks gaining only a little steam per day, until that fateful day when they explode. One day you look around and most people you know are healthy, the next day everyone is sick.
This may have been the worst way ever to gain insight into a word’s origin. Instead of the masses determining which average joe will become the next YouTube star, we now ponder which one of us will be engulfed by the virus. Although we do have concerns for our own health, our most pressing fear is the eruption. Our collective breath is held, while we wait for our local media to inform us we no longer have a hand-full of cases, we have a tidal wave.
Now that the people of Italy and New York are currently swept under its force, we are again focused on our screens. Everyone is grappling with the question: are we surging next? Will we be the next example of how logarithmic curves work? Will our decision to cancel the world around us work or are we already too late?
Normally, I would think time will tell, but not today. Today I believe the media will tell. If we do explode, I suspect that specific news report detailing the crisis will become viral.
Stay safe!
K