You have surely heard of information overload and difficulty understanding an issue, which can result in unhappy decisions. With the rise of social media and platforms, it became a major problem, especially in the last decade.
According to Daniel Levitin, McGill University psychology professor and author, we have created more information in the past ten years than in the whole of human history. There is a large amount of information on the Internet, but not all of them are trustworthy. We have to filter those and select the ones with which we identify the most. Then, we interpret them in our own unique way. This process consumes a significant amount of energy. So instead of benefiting from quality information, we often become overwhelmed with random news and facts.
A conscious mind can pay attention to only four things at once, says Levitin. If there is more, we make poor judgments. We lose track of things and, eventually, focus. Thus, the constant look-out for new information can have a negative impact on our productivity and performance. Also, it can draw us back from taking further action.
We can prevent those by mindfully selecting the information necessary to accomplish our goals, which we have previously carefully set with adequate plans and strategies. We should also keep in mind that less is sometimes more. We should not consume more information just for the sake of it, even though it feels like we are educating ourselves. That is considered procrastination.
Nonetheless, the worldwide pandemic has presented us with a more challenging phenomenon — infodemic — the spread of fake and accurate news regarding a disease, such as COVID-19.
Mass misinformation has already appeared in the Middle Ages. It has been identified with other illnesses, such as yellow fever, meningitis, Ebola, and many more. However, as mentioned above, it has been amplified with digital platforms. It has now scaled up so it can even produce a negative effect on the population’s health.
Some people feel distant from the pandemic, as they lack either experience with the virus or guidance. Those might take unnecessary risks and even not follow the COVID-19 restrictions, as they don’t believe in the virus. With the growing mistrust towards institutions, the disbelief is intensified.
For instance, someone on the Internet said that wearing a face mask is more dangerous than the virus itself. The argument was that bacteria and viruses live and multiply there and inhale them instead of fresh air. This is obviously not true, provided that we regularly wash or change our masks, as we are supposed to.
Furthermore, various conspiracy theories were brought up. Such as that the 5G cell towers are the cause of the disease. Or that the virus comes from a laboratory. We do not have enough evidence to claim these.
WHO (World Health Organization) predicted that fake news regarding COVID-19 would circulate faster than the virus itself. Therefore, they set up an Information Network for Epidemics, which provides access to up-to-date, accurate, and easy-to-understand advice from trusted sources on public health events and outbreaks. There are about twenty staff involved in the network. They share tailored information for specific target groups.
We found ourselves in a foreign situation. Naturally, we are searching for responses. However, we surely do not want to panic and become a divided society because of fake news. Thus, we should avoid unscientific arguments and only research for evidence-based, transparent information, especially in these difficult times of the pandemic.