Pandemic In The Social Media Age
Earlier this week Maggie told me (Bethany) that she wished we could use our training to do something during this pandemic.“I just feel helpless like I am sitting on the sidelines!” she said. I concurred but couldn’t think of what we could do—there are lots of incredible folks in my field having productive conversations about this pandemic as it compares to (or largely doesn’t) with others. Here is a great one and I also recommend the other links on that page.
So, we were very excited to hear from Answer Media regarding PuckerMom.com when they said that readers might want to hear from us about this pandemic, social media and misinformation. I (Bethany) was so overexcited I started telling them topics I wanted to write about. They were lovely and patient and finally got us off the call to go to their other meetings. We have so much to say, we decided to structure it around the questions below:
What advice have we followed that has been useful related to COVID-19?
So, this comes with huge caveats—my sister, my mother and two brothers-in-law work in eldercare, with veterans, in ICUs and PICUs. There are folks that have to operate really differently within and because of aspects of our life already in place. For example, what if a person is blind? How do they practice social distancing if and when they need to leave their home? How do folks with anxiety and depression or chronic illness meet their needs while still maintaining their health and their isolation?
Isolation and distancing will look different for all of us, but the basics: stay home, don’t visit with anyone and wash your hands often, with soap, and as my daughter says, “lava hot” water. It might be annoying to hear it again, but these choices are literally life and death.
What resources are useful?
(Bethany here.) Okay I’m going to give you a super-official website to follow. However, it has a visual element that I believe most people can wrap their heads around. Here is what I want you to know about this site: this shows you confirmed cases, not how many people are infected. These are the numbers from people who have been tested and received a positive. Remember that many of these cases are active—people haven’t been putting in either column (recovered or deceased) because they still have it.
When you see the massive spike in cases—this is expected. Remember it is, in epidemic terms, normal. Terrible, but normal. All epidemics are bell curves.
If we do nothing to limit the spread, the curve will still peak and descend. It always does, it always has, it always will. How long that takes, and how many are infected—that is what we can change with our choices. We CAN do something. And that is basically not leaving your house. I know—I have shed some frustrated tears already. And hidden in the bathroom with my phone and coffee during breakfast.
Follow the statistics here. I love this source because it gathers data from dozens of agencies and health systems, so it is more accurate than most of the media sources I’ve seen.
What are some of the bad advice floating around social media?
The amount of bad information is mind-boggling, but I think it reflects the lack of experience—we just aren’t used to a pandemic of this size in our collective memory. The previous comparable one was in the 1960s, so it has been awhile. And like all misinformation, there is some kernel of truth, making it more confusing. Below is our feedback on the following gems Maggie found on her social media accounts:
The Salty Lies And Watering Down Misinformation. And The Truth Is Antibodies
- that the virus lives in your throat for a few days before you get sick and that if you gargle warm salt water, you will kill it
- Salt kills bacteria. In fact, this is why salt was used to preserve meat and other foods for the last few thousand years. Because it works. Have you ever wondered why they recommend gargling with salt water when you have strep throat? It does all the other great things salt water does, but it also lessens the bacterial load a bit, which reduces pain and inflammation, while antibiotics do the rest. But COVID is not bacterial, it is viral. Viruses are not killed with salt. The end.
- Something else to consider: If salt killed the virus, why are they still working on a vaccine or trying out medications? Salt is great—but not for viruses.
- Salt kills bacteria. In fact, this is why salt was used to preserve meat and other foods for the last few thousand years. Because it works. Have you ever wondered why they recommend gargling with salt water when you have strep throat? It does all the other great things salt water does, but it also lessens the bacterial load a bit, which reduces pain and inflammation, while antibiotics do the rest. But COVID is not bacterial, it is viral. Viruses are not killed with salt. The end.
- That if you drink water every 15 minutes, the virus will bypass your lungs and get destroyed in your stomach.
- I’m not sure what this one stems from, but I’ve spent time thinking about it. It is true that during a viral infection, staying hydrated is key. But this is also not how viruses work. Here is the discouraging aspect about viruses: there is no cure. If you are hearing there will be a cure, that is bad information. Here is the very basic information on how viruses work: viruses are something that ceases to bother you once you have antibodies. Antibodies are created in two ways:
- You suffer from the virus, survive, have antibodies. One earlier version of this is variolation, which began with smallpox. But you still have to get smallpox—the risk is that it wasn’t a “light” or “easy” case and it still killed you. Here is a great novel that is factually based and what actually happened is incredible.
- You are inoculated or vaccinated and create antibodies that way. Yep—there are risks than this too, but the amount of virus in your system is orders smaller than getting it any other way.
- I’m not sure what this one stems from, but I’ve spent time thinking about it. It is true that during a viral infection, staying hydrated is key. But this is also not how viruses work. Here is the discouraging aspect about viruses: there is no cure. If you are hearing there will be a cure, that is bad information. Here is the very basic information on how viruses work: viruses are something that ceases to bother you once you have antibodies. Antibodies are created in two ways:
What is working well for you and your families? What is not?
(Bethany here). I have had a lot of success giving Hazel (4.75 years old) basic information and then having her help me with tasks that “help.” So, she knows there is a virus, that we have to stay home all the time to help it go away, that viruses happen and we are doing what we can to work together to help it end. Then I have her help me wash off doorknobs—she loves spraying and wiping things. So sometimes we do that (not because I think that act really keeps us from getting the virus) because it is an area that should be cleaned during an outbreak (also very much during a stomach bug running around your family) and this helps Hazel feels she is doing something which is what we all want in times like these.
Parenting Thoughts
(Maggie here.) My daughter Sweeney is five years old so I have been downloading every suggestion available– Letterland apps, doodle with Mo Williems, Khan Academy, Cosmic Kids Yoga, Teach Your Monster to Read, her teachers are sending videos of them reading to her, FaceTime show and tells with friends and family, virtual preschool circle time on Facebook, virtual tours of museums and parks. She is turning into an addict! On day two we needed to stop– all she asks for is my phone or computer– my husband and I need to work so it was “easy” and I hate the thought of her missing out on all these great learning tools (I love free stuff too) but the begging for them the second she gets up is not very fun to be around. We are at our wits end!
Bethany and I have learned throughout our research on medical expertise and parenting—you are not “doing this pandemic wrong! You are doing your best to keep your family, friends, co-workers and broader community healthy and safe—if you are doing your best at that (and that can look different for different families) you are doing this right!
About Us
Bethany L. Johnson (MPhil, M.A.) is a doctoral student in the history of science, technology and the environment at the University of South Carolina and an associate member to the graduate faculty and research affiliate faculty in the department of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Bethany studies how science, medical technology and public health discourses are framed and produced by institutions and individuals with structural privilege from the 19th century to the present.
She has published in interdisciplinary journals such as Health Communication, Women & Language, Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Journal of Holistic Nursing, and Women’s Reproductive Health. She co-authored with Dr. Margaret M. Quinlan, You’re Doing it Wrong! Mothering, Media and Medical Expertise (Rutgers University Press).
Margaret M. Quinlan is an associate professor in the department of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
She explores how communication creates, resists and transforms knowledges about bodies. And she critiques power structures in order to empower individuals who are marginalized inside and outside of healthcare systems.
She authored approximately 40 journal articles, 17 book chapters and co-produced documentaries in a regional Emmy award-winning series. And she co-authored You’re Doing It Wrong! Mothering, Media, and Medical Expertise (Rutgers) with Bethany Johnson.
More info:
Our Psychology Today Column, Medical Humanties Mamas: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/medical-humanities-mamas
We have a website that explains some of our other projects: https://johnsonquinlanresearch.com/
Read Our Book You’re Doing It Wrong Mothering Media And Medical Expertise
Johnson, B., & Quinlan, M. M. (2019). You’re doing it wrong! Mothering, media, and medical expertise. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
[30 percent discount available: 02AAAA17]
Follow us on social media:
Twitter: Follow Us On Twitter
Facebook: Follow Us On Facebook
Instagram: Follow Us On Instagram
Website: Our Website
Bethany Johnson and Margaret M. Quinlan
Bethany Johnson & Margaret M. Quinlan
You might also like
