The Coronavirus Topic We Aren’t Addressing
We are inundated with a constant flow of information on the Coronavirus by the minute. From real news outlets to social media and then there’s the varied political party statements oh, and of course, a very generous heaping of Fake News on the side. Depending on how a person uses and engages with social media will impact how much they see and what actions they take and how they engage and in many cases, propagate the information they receive. But one key topic is not being addressed.
Understanding an Infodemic
First, it’s important to understand the context of the infodemic and what’s happening. Humanity has never, in its entire existence on this little blue ball, been able to communicate and organize on a global scale. Across imagined borders, cultures and communities.
The stage was set for an infodemic over a decade ago with the rise of social media tools. The first serious instances of how social media could impact societies was the 2016 U.S. election and the interference by Russia and in smaller ways, China. Prior to that was 2011 with the Arab Spring and social media enabling societies to organize in the Middle East. Unfortunately, autocracies and dictatorships have become much better at digital propaganda and manipulation than democratic governments have.
So, here we are. The last global viral outbreak was SARS, which was on the cusp of globally available social media tools. There was no global social network with 2 billion humans called Facebook or Twitter, TikTok, Snap, SinaWeibo and such. In just a decade, we’ve suddenly connected enough of humanity that even the parts of humanity that aren’t connected can still be influenced by those who are and the views and opinions they have.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned through the rise of social media, it is that sensationalism, negativity and anger seems to travel faster than kindness, tolerance and care for one another. How people conduct themselves online is far different than when we are face to face. Hiding behind a keyboard is easy.
The Topic We’re Not Covering with the Coronavirus / COVID19
So, with context, to some small degree, the topic that doesn’t get a lot of coverage is mental health. Stress, anxiety, depression. There are some news media articles, but they are few and far between. As we receive news daily and people attempt to relate it to their situation, emotions that are negative, that trigger fight or flight reactions take off faster than those of happiness and contentment. It’s part of our collective social cultures, globally. Humans have survived because of our ability to communicate both dangers and pleasures, bit mostly, dangers. Pretty much since we fell out of a tree a few hundred thousand years ago.
How do we tackle the mental health angle of the coronavirus infodemic?
That’s an incredibly complex question to answer. But in this case, it starts with both governments and IGO’s like the UN or WHO. It will also take a long time, far longer than the current global viral outbreak. It will also take a lot of organizations working together to find solutions. There’s no single silver bullet solution in this kind of situation for we are talking about cultures, many different cultures, political and belief systems including religions.
What’s wonderful about humanity is that we are all different sizes, shapes, colours, political and religious belief systems. It keeps it interesting. But it also makes it a challenge in situations like these. Perhaps we need to find a global set of “human norms” that everyone can agree on. I’ve ideas on what they might be, but that’s another post altogether and one fraught with issues.
In the meantime, aside from the physical health challenges of a global pandemic, we must also deal with the mental health issues. For now, that will likely fall to local, grass roots organizations to find the path forward.
What do you think?
