I don't know about you, but to me the internet has never felt more human.
WhatsApp groups are sprouting in every road in the country. There are family FaceTimes and Zoom parties, let alone Skype dates. Never before have our social lives pulsed so decisively through those precious cables. For the first time, I think I know what social media really means.
Online platforms really are now thoroughfares and public squares in every way that matters. As we draw the internet even closer day by day, the line between our analogue and digital lives becomes even more blurry and less meaningful. And as all this happens, one thing is already abundantly clear amongst the uncertainty: moments like this are when information is at its most valuable – and also most dangerous.
Exactly how the Covid-19-related internet can cause harm is something we’re still working out as we go along. Claims that drinking bleach will cure coronavirus can be harmful to you in a glaring way; a man died after self-medicating with another touted cure.
But then there are collective dangers too: spreading pictures of people panic-buying will make more people panic -buy. Spreading conspiracy theories about the “medical deep state” will undermine trust in public health advice at a time in which such trust is vital. But it goes beyond disinformation: simply being immersed in a sea of coronavirus infographics every day will take a toll on the mental health of all of us in ways both obvious and subtle.
A powerful emotional mix of dread and hope, anxiety and anger is enough to propel a lot of such content around the world in completely unpredictable ways. But never one to miss an opportunity, the usual suspects – hostile states, the far rightand clickbait merchants — are each exploiting Covid-19 too.
I spend most of my day pulling apart all of this. Informationally, as well as pathogenically, we can be hosts, vectors, super spreaders or hygienically cleansed. As we’re all resetting and remaking our lives and habits, I have seven rules for you. Preachy? Probably. High-minded? That too. But give them a try; they might actually help.
Guard against outrage
Even in normal times, outrage is your biggest risk of becoming vulnerable to online manipulation. It is easy to fire up, reaches deep into your sense of right and wrong, and usually spurs a reaction that makes people on the opposing social or political side outraged too. A fake letter purportedly from the Ukrainian health ministry, for instance, caused riots to break out as outraged locals tried to block the return of “infected” evacuees from China. Now that it’s easier to be angry than ever, the internet is not a place to be outraged within.
Slow. Down.
We usually share online content when we feel like it, not when we think about it. The things that tend to fly around the internet are those that sink hooks into our primordial psychologies. Miracle cures soar on the wings of forlorn hope. Empty shelves are propelled into the sight of millions by the panic that they cause. Raw emotion is not a good principle to determine what gets seen and what doesn’t, and simply slowing down allows the more considered and considerate parts of your thinking to kick in.
When it comes to actually learning about the world, remember:
Source: wired.co.uk
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