About

Child With Small Telescope refers to a viral image of a fake sign or poster stapled to a telephone pole warning people of a "child with a small telescope" who keeps staring at people's apartments. The picture went viral on Reddit in March 2021, sparking jokes and theories regarding the kid's motivation to spy on the neighbor's windows. Some of the phrases used in the sign also inspired memes online, like "What Has He Seen." The image spread online during the 2020s, with it also becoming an exploitable meme format with people editing parts of the original poster.

Origin

On March 30th, 2021, the Instagram^[1] page @truewagner, run by comedian Alan Wagner, uploaded a satirical warning sign attached to a wooden pole with the caption, "A local child has an issue," showing images of a child with a small telescope that keeps "coming by and staring up into our apartment." The sign is also accompanied by a 3D rendering version of the child generated by AI (seen below).

The image was reposted on the same day by Redditor^[2] JohnMcHarrstarr, which amassed more than 112,000 upvotes and 1,700 comments in three years.

Spread

The Child With Small Telescope meme remained a prevalent viral image on Reddit over the years, inspiring parodies and other memes using the poster. For instance, on April 6th, 2021, Redditor^[3] Jojo_tank0 posted a meme using the viral image (seen below), amassing more than 8,400 upvotes and 60 comments in roughly three years.

On June 17th, 2023, X^[4] / Twitter user @marciwelford posted the same warning sign image glued in a different pole (seen below), amassing more than 18,000 likes and 1,600 reposts in a year.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References