School photo is viral internet meme, Adrian Smith finds

Adrian Smith was shocked to find that a photo of him as an eight-year-old had become an internet meme.

He stumbled upon the picture on Instagram, but it had come from a Tumblr blog in which his image was being used as the stepson of a fictional "teenage stepdad".

He said he was amused by it, but admitted that as a child he would have found it "confusing and sad".

Mr Smith's discovery has now gone more viral than the original meme.

He has been in touch with its original creator, and said he was happy that the image has not been used in a "mean spirit".

"Teenage Stepdad" offered to kill the character off, but Mr Smith is happy for him to carry on with it if he wishes, he said.

The character which went with the photo was not a part of him, Mr Smith said.

"I had options - I could ignore it, I could get mad about it, or I could embrace it and make it part of my story now, and have it out there as an example of the chaotic randomness that happens with stuff on the internet that we put there," he said.