Between despair and ecstasy
So here we are in the middle of the COVID19 pandemic shutdown. I’ve been at home now for 3 weeks, only leaving the apartment to do laundry in the basement and to get mail, and I leave the building to stand outside with the little dog. So my interactions are by phone, email and WhatsApp. I’m about ready to leave the house and run into the woods... or more accurately, to move into a mall and wander the stores that are empty of people but full of merchandise!
Funny, isn’t it, how contrarian we are as people? Under normal circumstances, staying at home isn’t a problem. But being told that we MUST stay in just causes this urge to go out and do something different. In the past few years, I’ve been protective of my health and avoided crowded places, kept away from anyone who was ill, and avoided strangers as disease-ridden germ spreadersv joa so the requirement for physical distance is not a hardship. But this shutdown of all the places that I usually go to maintain a level of normalcy is challenging! I haven’t been to the grocery for the past 3 weeks, and for that I thank my mother, aunts and grandmother for training me to keep a well-stocked pantry and how to cook. I miss spending time with my friends, all of whom are equally locked in, and who want to ensure that I don’t get sick. We’re all being good, as challenging as that may be sometimes!
I know that one of the difficulties for me (other than the enforced isolation) is getting information. The sheer volume of coverage is overwhelming, so then comes the need to sort through and identify what’s useful, applicable and relevant to me and discard the unnecessary, the fraudulent and the “noise” that’s mixed in. So I limit myself to 30 minutes of news coverage daily. I’ve found that there is very little benefit to listening the the 24-hour news cycle, because after 30 minutes it just cycles. The plethora of “experts” who appear in interviews doesn’t do much to reduce my anxiety, because they contradict themselves, never mind when they get around to disproving each other. Add to that the snake-oil salesmen who are peddling assorted, useless “cures” and the pro-plague crowd who are making things worse, and the sensational headlines, the “fake news” and the frankly made-up stories that are designed to increase worry.
Taking all of that into account determines how we respond to the situation. I’ve got friends who scour the news and circulate the worst news that they can find, often accompanied by comments about how they are seeing through the lies and deception posted by governments and health agencies, and that life is ending (or, as my brother put it, “Thanos has the stones.” 😀.) Others circulate “cures”, some of which are potentially deadly and others which are largely useless. Some few send out material that is incorrect, but they insist on flooding every possible channel with it. When they’re shown to be incorrect, there are no apologies. Then there are the messages that “Well, I thought it might be wrong, but then just in case, I sent it on.”
Here’s the problem with forwarding false information, knowingly or otherwise: it makes people mistrust. When you send on a fake “cure” which can actually harm someone, they’re less inclined to want to hear about actual treatments, partly because real treatments can be slow or require behaviour changes and they aren’t as immediate (or as glamorous) as some of the fakes’ promises. For instance, there were people who started promoting that drinking bleach could cure the virus. While killing the host effectively stops the virus, it’s not a recommended course of action. Explaining this to some people, though, gets the response that “Big Pharma just wants more money by keeping you sheeple.”
🤷🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️ Sending out fake government documents leads to a greater mistrust of public officials. Fanning rumours can lead to actual harm to individuals, up to death. Ultimately, a prevalence of inaccurate or false information in circulation increases levels of fear, which then leads to poor decision making and panic, which feeds the cycle by increasing fear.
Please, don’t surrender to fear. In the middle of the floods of misinformation there are some islets of sanity, and some techniques to keep you from drowning. When people send out messages on miracle cures and doomsday prophecies, do some research on the accuracy of the stories. Weed out some of the more inflammatory language to get to the core facts. Challenge people to provide the source of any claims that they make. Ignore or block people who insist on spreading incorrect items, or whose sense of humour tends towards the cruel. Finally, my preferred option, have some friends who can be relied on to talk about things other than the current situation and who are good at laughing. That’s an excellent way to cope with the noise around! A glass of your favourite (adult) beverage is also always welcome for coping with these situations. Whatever you decide, though, remember that this is a temporary condition, and it will pass.
Funny, isn’t it, how contrarian we are as people? Under normal circumstances, staying at home isn’t a problem. But being told that we MUST stay in just causes this urge to go out and do something different. In the past few years, I’ve been protective of my health and avoided crowded places, kept away from anyone who was ill, and avoided strangers as disease-ridden germ spreadersv joa so the requirement for physical distance is not a hardship. But this shutdown of all the places that I usually go to maintain a level of normalcy is challenging! I haven’t been to the grocery for the past 3 weeks, and for that I thank my mother, aunts and grandmother for training me to keep a well-stocked pantry and how to cook. I miss spending time with my friends, all of whom are equally locked in, and who want to ensure that I don’t get sick. We’re all being good, as challenging as that may be sometimes!
I know that one of the difficulties for me (other than the enforced isolation) is getting information. The sheer volume of coverage is overwhelming, so then comes the need to sort through and identify what’s useful, applicable and relevant to me and discard the unnecessary, the fraudulent and the “noise” that’s mixed in. So I limit myself to 30 minutes of news coverage daily. I’ve found that there is very little benefit to listening the the 24-hour news cycle, because after 30 minutes it just cycles. The plethora of “experts” who appear in interviews doesn’t do much to reduce my anxiety, because they contradict themselves, never mind when they get around to disproving each other. Add to that the snake-oil salesmen who are peddling assorted, useless “cures” and the pro-plague crowd who are making things worse, and the sensational headlines, the “fake news” and the frankly made-up stories that are designed to increase worry.
Taking all of that into account determines how we respond to the situation. I’ve got friends who scour the news and circulate the worst news that they can find, often accompanied by comments about how they are seeing through the lies and deception posted by governments and health agencies, and that life is ending (or, as my brother put it, “Thanos has the stones.” 😀.) Others circulate “cures”, some of which are potentially deadly and others which are largely useless. Some few send out material that is incorrect, but they insist on flooding every possible channel with it. When they’re shown to be incorrect, there are no apologies. Then there are the messages that “Well, I thought it might be wrong, but then just in case, I sent it on.”
Here’s the problem with forwarding false information, knowingly or otherwise: it makes people mistrust. When you send on a fake “cure” which can actually harm someone, they’re less inclined to want to hear about actual treatments, partly because real treatments can be slow or require behaviour changes and they aren’t as immediate (or as glamorous) as some of the fakes’ promises. For instance, there were people who started promoting that drinking bleach could cure the virus. While killing the host effectively stops the virus, it’s not a recommended course of action. Explaining this to some people, though, gets the response that “Big Pharma just wants more money by keeping you sheeple.”
🤷🏽♀️🤦🏽♀️ Sending out fake government documents leads to a greater mistrust of public officials. Fanning rumours can lead to actual harm to individuals, up to death. Ultimately, a prevalence of inaccurate or false information in circulation increases levels of fear, which then leads to poor decision making and panic, which feeds the cycle by increasing fear.
Please, don’t surrender to fear. In the middle of the floods of misinformation there are some islets of sanity, and some techniques to keep you from drowning. When people send out messages on miracle cures and doomsday prophecies, do some research on the accuracy of the stories. Weed out some of the more inflammatory language to get to the core facts. Challenge people to provide the source of any claims that they make. Ignore or block people who insist on spreading incorrect items, or whose sense of humour tends towards the cruel. Finally, my preferred option, have some friends who can be relied on to talk about things other than the current situation and who are good at laughing. That’s an excellent way to cope with the noise around! A glass of your favourite (adult) beverage is also always welcome for coping with these situations. Whatever you decide, though, remember that this is a temporary condition, and it will pass.
Comments
Post a Comment