PT Barnum supposedly said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” And no doubt each one of us has fallen for a deal too good to be true at one time or another. Disclosure, I've succumbed to purchasing my share of pointless potions promising dewy, youthful skin.
But silly missteps aside, it’s highly predictable that in times of widespread fear and dread – especially in the face of a health crises like the corona virus pandemic - certifiable quacks, charlatans and snake oil salesmen come out of the woodwork.
You might have heard about the Bergen County NJ 7-Eleven owner who was selling commercial sanitizer combined with water as hand sanitizer. At least 4 children were burned by the concoction.
The opportunists, make-a-fast-buck folks are nasty but their motives are clear and their impact last only as long as the product persists in the marketplace.
But something else more complex happens in mass dread events - we find ourselves awash in, and sometimes contaminated by concoctions, conspiracies and contradictions that get instantly disseminated and exponentially multiplied through emails, tweets, FB postings and other social media.
So with coronavirus you may have consumed (though not necessarily digested) a whole slew of narratives on the origin of the virus:
Everything from the virus coming from drinking bat soup to Steve Bannon’s claim that the coronavirus was leaked from a biological lab facility in Wuhan.
As for cures – well there’s a treasure trove of trash talk here as well:
Cold weather can kill the virus
Warm weather can kill it
And while you’re at it, taking a hot bath will put an end to the virus – easy peasy.
On one hand ( sorry for the pun) we’re told that hand sanitizer doesn't work against COVID-19, because it is a virus, anti-bacterial hand sanitizer won't do anything.
Then there’s the mass email from someone who claimed to be a Stanford Hospital board member. Take a few sips of water every 15 minutes to wash the virus down through your throat and into your stomach, and testing yourself by holding your breath for ten seconds.
Or did you stop and think a minute about the Youtube video touting MMS (Miracle Mineral Solution) – drink it (it’s main content – bleach).
And because I wouldn't lie on my own blog, an Indian Assemblywoman lectured stunned fellow colleagues when she proposed that "gaumutra," "gobar" were cures for coronavirus. Translation – “cow urine” and “cow dung.”
Then again many heard this about the virus - you may have "It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it will disappear."
My point here is not to list all the many ways junk science and snake oil salesmen compete with trustworthy information in today’s online world. I'm more interested and optimistic about the real progress I see people making as they navigate the online world.
Back when I started to do research into how website users' searched for health information online, the amount wasn't great - it was a niche thing (early 1990s). But we (researchers in medicine, social science and informatics) were concerned that newcomers to this online world had no way to judge the validity and trustworthiness of information. And to boot, the most trusted info (AMA, CDC, ACS…etc) was often too difficult for millions of people to read and understand. It was far easier to read someone’s personal testimonial about the catastrophic effect of childhood vaccines on their child, or why to stop your blood pressure meds and give yourself up to a life of consuming garlic (and the inherent social distancing).
Today health information is everywhere. And we’re spending many, many hours (not pointing fingers here, maybe10 – 11 hours) on various forms of e-media. And a by-product, or maybe a fundamental necessity is we’ve developed a more critical eye. It’s not just the scam robo calls and the hacking story nightmares that have accelerated our growing gatekeeping. I believe we’re challenged far more as we scan more and we are asking ourselves: Does this sound right? What do I need here? How else can I check this out? We are becoming more health literate.
The coronavirus is bringing dread to us all. It will take its toll and we will learn more about being ready for such occurrences in the future. Amidst all the trials we face I choose this one area of consumer empowerment to feel optimistic.
No comments:
Post a Comment