Social media, such as Facebook, play a role in contemporary culture. It may have been a natural outgrowth in the evolution of the Internet. Social media sites have been places to share information, keep connected with friends and family, reconnect with friends from the past, share jokes and memes and even forward PSAs.
But, many social media platforms, such as Facebook, can be a waste of time for those of us who are researchers and writers. Many of the popular social and political themes that populate social media are hyperbole, conjecture, urban myths and pure opinion. This immense abundance of data is very frequently presented as hard-core facts and authoritative, independently sourced, you-can-take-it-to-the-bank information. It’s not.
As a researcher and writer, I have to triple-check anything I present in writing as substantially factual and accurate. This is especially true of articles for the financial services business. Often, people rely on this information to make informed decisions and that is where things can get dicey.
During this current period in world history, with a pandemic changing the daily lives of people worldwide, accurate information is not only helpful and useful, but critical. Decisions people make, based on what they read in an article or watch on a video, can be the difference between life and death, health or illness or spreading a highly-contagious virus to a vulnerable family member or friend. Information that is shared on social media cannot err on the side of throwing caution to the wind.
Therein lies one of the dangers of social media to the public, and one of social media’s greatest shortcomings. Facebook is a good example.
As a researcher, who spends dozens of hours weekly reading medical research, stock market analysis, drug trial studies and economic data, I pass along select, carefully-sourced, authoritative articles and interview videos from experts, technical analysts, medical doctors and others. During the coronavirus pandemic, I have shared information from infectious disease researchers, virologists, epidemiologists, ER and ICU doctors, disease modelers, microbiologists and physicians who have direct links to colleagues on the front lines.
By sharing this accurate, expert information, I am acting as a curator of authoritative sources that can prove useful to those I share social media with. The information is carefully vetted as coming from the most reliable sources who are not influenced by politics or ideology, but by the latest science and medicine.
Taking this approach, as a serious researcher, is a far cry from posting an opinion piece, forwarding a meme with unsubstantiated information, posting politically-driven information or furthering unfounded conjecture based on a popular narrative. When people are making decisions, based on what they read and hear during a viral pandemic, the information has to be rock solid.
The reality of social media, including Facebook, is that most people don’t read the articles or watch the videos that others post. They hit the “like” button, after reading the headline or caption, and then move along. Some comment based on that small sliver of information, but they learn very little. For those of us who are curators of authoritative information, we are wasting our time. Providing a service like information-gathering for social media is simply a waste of time and resources.
People who use social media assume that they are reading someone’s opinion, just as they are expressing their own opinion. It never dawns on most people that curated information, from a legitimate researcher, is NOT opinion, it is reliable information. While researchers and writers, like myself, are extraordinarily careful to only post reliable and expert sources, it makes little difference. Yes, there are those few people who will take the time to watch an interview or read an article, but most don’t.
The Left and the Right are Both at Fault
Both ends of the political spectrum are guilty of perpetuating false and inaccurate information during this pandemic. Conservatives, and those on the right, are convinced that the coronavirus pandemic, the deaths and the mitigation plans are all a media creation, blown out of proportion, an assault on the economy and misinformation campaign. This isn’t to say that this is the stance of every conservative, but it is the opinion of far too many.
As a result, they have dismissed the pleadings of front-line doctors, infectious disease experts and other healthcare workers and have instead relied on other sources who are determined to claim this is a fake disaster. Unfortunately, the misinformation is also coming from famous conservative radio talk show pundits, politicians and conservative media stars.
There are thousands of memes on social media that claim that the death toll numbers will be less than predicted or that the seasonal flu is much worse. Even though the toll that will be taken by the coronavirus in the U.S. and worldwide is far from being established, the right acts as if the majority of fatalities are already behind us and that it is time to move on.
As a result, sources that are often interested in vetting information have thrown that practice to the wind. They are also throwing common sense to the wind.
This may be one of the most dangerous fallacies that the right is pushing; that big government is restraining economic progress and revitalization as if everyone is now immune to infection. Research on the coronvirus shows that in somewhere between 20% to as high as 70% of those who are infected, there are no symptoms, either immediately or ever. These untested infectious individuals, who would return to work and return to contact with colleagues, breathing the same inside air and touching the same surfaces, would create a resurgence in community spread that would certainly overwhelm hospitals and ICU departments.
While hundreds, if not thousands, of medical doctors have taken to social media in an unprecedented effort to recount the firsthand experiences that they have had in treating COVID-19 patients in hospitals, along with the unexpected fatalities and the dangers of being intubated and on a respirator, many conservatives seem to be convinced that this is just a well-coordinated farce.
On the left, a population that swears allegiance to science, are willing to ignore science, purely for political purposes. The president has made a few brief mentions of his interest in the results achieved by the drug hydroxychloroquine, and its efficacy in healing patients with COVID-19. That was enough to create an international knee-jerk reaction against the drug and anyone who voiced support for its use as a therapeutic tool against coronavirus.
One website article I read, that is purported to be written by a former microbiologist, went to great lengths to not only lambaste hydroxychloroquine as a therapeutic tool against COVID-19, but went even further to disparage and libel the character of a French doctor and researcher, who has conducted two ethical uncontrolled studies of the drug, along with erythromycin and zinc for COVID patients. His results have been compelling, yet members of the left would choose to ignore these studies and others because the president supported the drug. Despite the fact that hydroxychloroquine has been used safely for 70 years and more than 1 billion doses have been prescribed, they are willing to question its strong safety profile and clinical results in order to disparage the president.
For a group that places a high degree of respect on those with advanced degrees, the French researcher, who holds both an MD and a Ph.D, was neutered because he dare support the president’s position; whether or not his advocacy of hydroxychloroquine had anything to do with the president’s interest in the drug.
This anti-hydroxychloroquine stance has filtered down throughout the media nationwide, with news outlets seeking out doctors who are willing to cast doubt on its effectiveness or who are willing to ignore its strong safety profile, over decades, and claim it represents a real threat of creating arrhythmias or other secondary effects.
Also, despite the fact that the president banned travel from China in late January, the left and the media have blamed him for the level of outbreak in the U.S. At the time of his ban, the media, Democrat politicians and many voices on the left accused him of xenophobia.
After announcing the ban, Joe Biden said; ““This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysterical xenophobia and fear mongering to lead the way instead of science.”
You can’t have it both ways. He either saved many lives by taking decisive action and instituting a ban in the early stages, or he was asleep at the wheel. It appears that he took the right action when he did to ban travel from China and then later from Europe and the U.K.
Returning to Pre-COVID Status
Many conservatives on social media, and on the radio, claim its time to return to normal and to just deal with any sporadic outbreaks or infections as they come up. This ignores some of what researchers have learned about the coronavirus.
Some of the most dangerous people are those who are asymptomatic vectors (those who are infected with no symptoms), who are walking around, coming in contact with other people, and spreading the virus and perpetuating community spread. I have learned that trying to point this simple reality out, and make the point that sheltering at home needs to continue, is the antithesis of what conservative thought would dictate right now.
My thinking on the topic is to follow the truth and the facts and place human lives above ideology. This is far easier said than done and social media isn’t a treasure trove of accurate, factual information. It is instead a repository of catchy memes, articles or videos often created by pseudo-experts who support an ideological position or urban myths that just won’t die.
As a researcher and writer, this pandemic has taught me one lesson; don’t expect social media to be the platform that distributes factual, useful information to a grateful audience.
It is only what people want it to be. Clicking the like button on headlines or captions or one-frame graphical creations is the reality. Taking the time to curate dependable, factual content will not reach a receptive audience. Hoping for anything more if folly.
