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Coronavirus is Serious. Panic Is Optional (1 Viewer)

Joe Bryant

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I fear this won't be received well. But I think it's important. 

My ask of you folks is that you at least consider this. And think about how you manage the things you consume on this. Be it news or social media or this forum. 

I listen to few people more closely than Seth Godin for business writing. He's a master marketer and that means he understands human nature. I think he's right here on this as well.

https://seths.blog/2020/03/calm-also-has-a-coefficient/

Calm also has a coefficient

Panic loves company.

And yet calm is our practical, efficient, rational alternative.

If you’re on a crowded plane and one person is freaking out about turbulence, the panic will eventually peter out. If, on the other hand, six people are freaking out, it’s entirely possible that it will spread and overtake the rest of the plane. Panic needs multiple nodes to spread.

The same is true with a cabin of 10-year-olds at summer camp. One homesick kid usually comes around and ends up enjoying the summer, because being surrounded by others who are okay makes us okay. But three or four homesick kids can change the entire dynamic.

While calm is a damping agent, it’s not nearly as effective at spreading itself as panic is.

The library is usually a quiet place because the dominant cultural narrative in the library is to be quiet. Because it’s dominant, the coefficient of its spread is sufficient to keep it that way. We have to expend effort to create environments of calm, because calm has a coefficient that can’t compete with panic when it comes to spreading.

And Twitter? Twitter has been engineered to maximize panic. Calm is penalized, panic is amplified. And if you are hanging out in real life with people who spend a lot of time on social media and news sites, you’ve invited all of those people into your circle as well.

We can find lots of reasons why fifty years of watching just three dominant TV networks wasn’t ideal. But the combination of oligopoly and the FCC meant that none of them spread panic. They weren’t built for it. When cable “news” showed up, they discovered that panic was a great way to make a profit. Not to make things better, simply to spread anger and fear.

If panic is helpful, of course you should bring it on. But it rarely is.

Instead:

Curate your incoming.

Stay off Twitter.

Do the work instead. Whatever needs doing most is better than panic.

Being up-to-date on the news is a trap and a scam. Five minutes a day is all you need.

More on this from Margo.


The article Godin links to is excellent I think as well. https://www.thatseemsimportant.com/mental-health/headlines-media-panic-pandemic/

The author, Margo Aaron is also a marketer specializing in the effectiveness of headline writing. Which can obviously be used for good or bad. She has a similar opinion to Godin but states it more strongly. 

 
I am glad I read about this before last Thursday (which imo is the unofficial start of the American response). It helped me prepare for myself and my family and not participate  

Now... I'm good.  I want to know if there's any new guidance about precautions to take or anything actionable but that's it. 

We're staying home and staying away from people altogether for now.  

I just went grocery shopping. I took a shower right before i left, wore gloves, stayed socially distant, bought enough food for ther fridge and freezer for a long while, brought everything home, wiped every single package down and put it in a clean container, went inside and threw my clothes in the washer, took a shower and brought the food in, and wiped down my car too. I won't wear those shoes for a few days and either.  I don't know if that's overkill but it's the best plan i could come up with using the available information.  If we get sick, it won't be because I didn't take precautions.  

I don't need to know every detail but for me, the fact that this can live for 3 days on plastic is meaningful because it meant i needed to wipe my packages down.  And maybe later we find out that that didn't help at all or that it made things worse because the wipes don't kill anything and just spread it around.  I'm not going to panic about that i just made the best decision I can with the available information to keep my family safe.  

 
I 100% agree that obsessively consuming information about this is terrible for people's mental health and accomplishes nothing useful. I also know that I'm completely unable to stop paying attention.
Thank you GB.

I totally understand. It's completely human nature. People much smarter than I am can explain it but I'm sure it has something to do with our brains being wired to detect threats. The people good at that survived and passed those traits to their offspring and so it went. 

What feels to me like has changed is our brains likely haven't changed that dramatically but our environment has.

It's one thing for a guy 2,000 years to be attracted to something sweet like honey. Honey was kind of rare.

Today, with a convenience store on every corner, there's the equivalent of honey everywhere. It's literally the kid in the candy store thing. 

It's the same thing the potato chip engineers exploit when they know we're wired to crave that sweet salty chip. 

With news, as Godin talked about, it seemed like it wasn't as much a thing 30 years ago with 3 TVs and the local papers. Those were plain baked potatoes. 

But as the supply of news became so much plentiful, they had do more and more to stand out. They needed to turn into potato chips to gather enough attention to survive.

I say all that to say we are literally wired to become trapped in the news headlines. 

I struggle too. But I'm trying my best to limit myself. 

 
My pastor had a great example of changing focus. He was once on a fishing boat that was getting rocked by a swell, and he was getting seasick. The captain saw him, had him move to the front of the boat and focus on the horizon. It worked, so that's what we should do, focus on our horizon.

 
I 100% agree that obsessively consuming information about this is terrible for people's mental health and accomplishes nothing useful. I also know that I'm completely unable to stop paying attention.
:yes:   But we are not "Panicking"....... yet.. Doing our best to stay isolated, getting take out from local restaurants to try and help their bottom line, and have some dry goods stocked just in case.. But we have not done any hoarding and will not..

I've mentioned before,.... my wife works with Elderly and the handicap who can't shop on their own or take care of their basic needs... the other day they basically got run over by some woman in her 30's as she was rushing to get Lysol. My wife let her have it with "WTF?? There is no need to push down elderly people just because you are panicking!"..
She got the death stare like she was in the wrong :angry:    

 
:yes:   But we are not "Panicking"....... yet.. Doing our best to stay isolated, getting take out from local restaurants to try and help their bottom line, and have some dry goods stocked just in case.. But we have not done any hoarding and will not..

I've mentioned before,.... my wife works with Elderly and the handicap who can't shop on their own or take care of their basic needs... the other day they basically got run over by some woman in her 30's as she was rushing to get Lysol. My wife let her have it with "WTF?? There is no need to push down elderly people just because you are panicking!"..
She got the death stare like she was in the wrong :angry:    
Thanks. And yes, it's a spectrum for sure. 

Where I see it working (at least for me) is obsessively consuming news and info. And for me, it's not helpful. It's actually I think damaging. 

I'm not going to miss anything big. One can't help but hear the big stuff. 

But I'm doing better with massively limiting how much I consume. Usually a trusted source like NYT and even though limiting the amount AND accepting they have a business interest in presenting the news in a way that keeps me coming back for more. 

 
Given the circumstances I couldn't be happier. We have tons of food, water, beer, weed and ammo in reserve. We have plenty of perishable food to consume in the meantime. We have internet, video games, sunny weather and so far nobody in this house is sick. 

The only thing keeping me from absolute bliss is my parents not taking this seriously and these tedious emails I need to send for work. 

 
Given the circumstances I couldn't be happier. We have tons of food, water, beer, weed and ammo in reserve. We have plenty of perishable food to consume in the meantime. We have internet, video games, sunny weather and so far nobody in this house is sick. 

The only thing keeping me from absolute bliss is my parents not taking this seriously and these tedious emails I need to send for work. 
I wasn't panicking until I saw this combo!  ;)

 
One of my biggest concerns right now - and trying not to make this political - but, nobody has defined "success" yet.

Part of the reason it feels like we are on a rudderless ship right now, is that we have no idea where we are headed, nor how close we are to getting there.  That leads to both panic, and lack of concern.

If someone would say - we are trying to slow the spread of the virus, and we are measuring that, and we think social distancing is needed for X days to meet that goal - then I think people would be less panicky.

I also think its worth pointing out that a big outbreak in New York is not likely to be replicated in Small Town USA.  Various hot spots will require more strict responses - but that rural Americans are likely to see less disruption.

As it is - I don't think anyone can say when life will return to some normalcy.  It can't be until the virus is eradicated - so what then is the acceptable risk we, as a society, are willing to take, and how will we know when we reach that point.

 
I say all that to say we are literally wired to become trapped in the news headlines. 

I struggle too. But I'm trying my best to limit myself. 
I was a sportswriter and editorial columnist for our college paper. It was baffling and occasionally infuriating to wake up early the morning after I submitted an article and find my words, with my byline, under a headline that usually missed the crux of my article; sometimes was completely unrelated; and occasionally something entirely different.

The problem with our present-day news climate is everyone's their own headline writer. Even if people wanted to do the research, due diligence, and rounds and rounds of editing required to write good longform, you can't do longform in 280 characters, or 15 seconds, or four Powerpoint bullets for a senior executive.

And the most important issues of the day don't distill well into those formats.

I found the only way to get myself off that hamster wheel was to leave Twitter entirely. I don't regret it for a minute and haven't looked back.

 
One of my biggest concerns right now - and trying not to make this political - but, nobody has defined "success" yet.

Part of the reason it feels like we are on a rudderless ship right now, is that we have no idea where we are headed, nor how close we are to getting there.  That leads to both panic, and lack of concern.

If someone would say - we are trying to slow the spread of the virus, and we are measuring that, and we think social distancing is needed for X days to meet that goal - then I think people would be less panicky.

I also think its worth pointing out that a big outbreak in New York is not likely to be replicated in Small Town USA.  Various hot spots will require more strict responses - but that rural Americans are likely to see less disruption.

As it is - I don't think anyone can say when life will return to some normalcy.  It can't be until the virus is eradicated - so what then is the acceptable risk we, as a society, are willing to take, and how will we know when we reach that point.
I agree.

With just about anything, be it a job or marriage or fantasy football season, you need a "goal" or a "definition of success". 

I truly think you're hitting on one of the real pressure points as right now, there just isn't a clear goal.

Or the goals are murky.

Everyone is near singularly focused on a goal we didn't know even existed a couple of weeks ago in "flattening the curve". So that's difficult. And right now, we can't see the "scoreboard" showing us we're doing well on that goal. 

It does go back to human nature. I agree with the two articles I linked to in the original post about how news companies and social media companies use headlines for manipulation. It's just human nature. Another thing that's human nature is: We want a plan. 

It's not a coincidence the absolute best marketing is one that clearly lays out a plan. Be it Footballguys with the game plan to dominate your league or https://www.orkin.com/ with the six step plan to rid your house of termites. People see that and are comforted. They will follow. 

We've had a less clearly defined plan here in the US. And of course, the US is different than Orkin as they need everyone to "buy" the plan. It's a challenge clearly in a country like ours where independence is so valued. 

But yes, people want a plan and they want a definition of success. I'm hopeful we'll be moving toward that. 

 
Of course I am concerned as we all should be but I have no panic.     

Went to 2 stores last night and there was an eerie calm.  totally unlike the feeling I got 3-4 days ago.  It was  keeping your respectful distance but more business as usual.  Stores were not nearly as crowded and they actually had most everything in stock.  People were actually looking around and talking more.

Cashier said yesterday was just like a regular day.  Said last couple days have been much better. 

I actually emailed the web master of one of our local news stations.  Every time you clicked on their site the first picture covering the whole page was a blown up microscopic corona spore. Then every article had huge blown up pictures of the spore so it looked like a planet.  I said that actually puts people into a panic mode.   They did respond and say it will be looked into ASAP so we will see.

 
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Thanks. And yes, it's a spectrum for sure. 

Where I see it working (at least for me) is obsessively consuming news and info. And for me, it's not helpful. It's actually I think damaging. 

I'm not going to miss anything big. One can't help but hear the big stuff. 

But I'm doing better with massively limiting how much I consume. Usually a trusted source like NYT and even though limiting the amount AND accepting they have a business interest in presenting the news in a way that keeps me coming back for more. 
Where I find myself more guilty of this then anywhere is watching the Finance page on Yahoo.. I won't be retiring to 10+ years, yet watching the Down dives, then the tick up is just something I haven't been able to break since this started..

The interesting part is.. earlier this week I told my wife something "crooked" seemed to be going on.. Stock market crashes, Trump Speaks, Market Jumps.. Just seemed ripe for Insider trading.. and then today BOOM.. 4 senators accused of that exact thing :angry:  

 
I also think its worth pointing out that a big outbreak in New York is not likely to be replicated in Small Town USA.  Various hot spots will require more strict responses - but that rural Americans are likely to see less disruption.
Agree not as "big" but it can be worse as the small towns don't have the experience dealing with this as the big cities do..

Not to mention a lot of them have the mentality of "I can still gather with my friends, we are in a small town so we don't have the Big city problems" ..

 
Of course I am concerned as we all should be but I have no panic.     

Went to 2 stores last night and there was an eerie calm.  totally unlike the feeling I got 3-4 days ago.  It was  keeping your respectful distance but more business as usual.  Stores were not nearly as crowded and they actually had most everything in stock.  People were actually looking around and talking more.

Cashier said yesterday was just like a regular day.  Said last couple days have been much better. 

I actually emailed the web master of one of our local news stations.  Every time you clicked on their site the first picture covering the whole page was a blown up microscopic corona spore. Then every article had huge blown up pictures of the spore so it looked like a planet.  I said that actually puts people into a panic mode.   They did respond and say it will be looked into ASAP so we will see.
100%.

I said this in our staff messaging. 

When I read posts in forums and social media, it occurs to me much of what is posted is on the exact same human nature principle of how people complain about anything. In other words, looking at the comments posted on just about anything, they're almost always going to be overwhelmingly negative as few people post "good job". 

In the same way, "The Tampa grocery store was RANSACKED" posts are popular. The guy who posts, "I was just at the Tampa grocery store and it was about 90% normal" gets a yawn. So he doesn't post.

But for the reader, what they see is almost all negative posts and the perception is everywhere is being ransacked.
It's just general human nature. 

It's the same with most feedback. One has to be VERY careful about making assumptions about a group based on super limited feedback. 

 
One of my biggest concerns right now - and trying not to make this political - but, nobody has defined "success" yet.

Part of the reason it feels like we are on a rudderless ship right now, is that we have no idea where we are headed, nor how close we are to getting there.  That leads to both panic, and lack of concern.

If someone would say - we are trying to slow the spread of the virus, and we are measuring that, and we think social distancing is needed for X days to meet that goal - then I think people would be less panicky.

I also think its worth pointing out that a big outbreak in New York is not likely to be replicated in Small Town USA.  Various hot spots will require more strict responses - but that rural Americans are likely to see less disruption.

As it is - I don't think anyone can say when life will return to some normalcy.  It can't be until the virus is eradicated - so what then is the acceptable risk we, as a society, are willing to take, and how will we know when we reach that point.
Not sure what will be considered success.   Like the flu this will be with us forever now. I guess success will be finding vaccines, controlling outbreaks best as possible, limiting deaths and have population awareness. If the end result is the same number of deaths by corona as by the flu every year will that be success?  I don`t know.

Life changed after 9-11.  I expect this to change our lives even more drastically.

 
Panic literally is not optional for those with anxiety. Sheesh. 
Thanks GB. Do you mean not being able to control going into panic?

Is that something you are challenged with? 

I totally get that and obviously it's real. For folks with that challenge, I'd encourage strongly taking to heart the two articles above and realize how headlines can be used for exploitation. 

They're already exploitative for the average person. But for someone already predisposed to anxiety, I would think they'd be devastating. I'd strongly encourage those folks to limit their consumption there. 

 
Thanks GB. Do you mean not being able to control going into panic?

Is that something you are challenged with? 

I totally get that and obviously it's real. For folks with that challenge, I'd encourage strongly taking to heart the two articles above and realize how headlines can be used for exploitation. 

They're already exploitative for the average person. But for someone already predisposed to anxiety, I would think they'd be devastating. I'd strongly encourage those folks to limit their consumption there. 
I’m not but a friend is and they are really struggling right now. Trying to be reassuring but the constant barrage of headlines isn’t helping. 

 
Thanks GB. Do you mean not being able to control going into panic?

Is that something you are challenged with? 

I totally get that and obviously it's real. For folks with that challenge, I'd encourage strongly taking to heart the two articles above and realize how headlines can be used for exploitation. 

They're already exploitative for the average person. But for someone already predisposed to anxiety, I would think they'd be devastating. I'd strongly encourage those folks to limit their consumption there. 
It can be for me. I typically deal with it without meds or going to the doc or anything, but I'm feeling it right now. I had an episode that sent me to the doc a few years ago because of stress from work and I thought I was having chest pains.  Turned out to be nothing and I haven't had any sensations like that until this week.  I think part of my issue is I"m dealing with this solo. I've always had a partner during previous uncertain periods (9/11) and I'm trying to cope with doing all this alone which makes some of the logistical stuff easier, but everything else kind of sucks.

 
One of the best books I've read in a long time is Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You by Marc Schoen.

Short description - our modern life has made us so comfortable that anything that makes us uncomfortable, even the simplest of things, causes us to engage our survival instinct. Obviously a giant thing like this is going to cause that reaction.

Longer description - your brain has three parts:

1) The lizard brain that controls basic, automatic functions like breathing, heartbeat, etc.

2) The limbic which attaches emotions to input. This part still isn't traditional, it automatically triggers nearly simultaneously with the lizard brain.

3) The cerebral cortex gives us the higher reasoning abilities - thinking analytically and logically, and abstractly.

The book gives some good pointers on how to get over the first reaction that your reactionary brain gives you and engage the rational brain. Definitely worth reading.

 
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I've never felt panic through this whole thing.  I guess I am fortunate, but I also don't consume our new media sans my local news at 6 and CBS news at 630.  I suspect that helps.  My wife is a rather large worrier.  She may be on the anxiety spectrum somewhere, but it's not overwhelming.  She is the largest challenge with us all in the house at the same time.  She always assumes the worst is going to happen to her.  I am pretty confident this is something learned from watching her grandmother, then her father.  I can always tell when she's been on social media...always.  

During this time we've focused on us and the family.  We're all here in the house together so we're treating it like a staycation for the time being.  We're only two weeks in, but it's going ok.  We don't turn on any of the noise and really only watch movies and stuff with the kids.  We play games and the kids do their computer work they'd normally be doing in school.  We have dinner together (a luxury with a boy playing baseball and girl on a competitive cheer team).  All that's come to a screeching halt and now we are adjusting.  Can't say we won't be going crazy in a week or even tomorrow, but so far we're better than we've been in a while.  We focus on what we can control and focus on what it means to be part of the family working through a scary time.  Overall, we're pretty blessed.

 
It can be for me. I typically deal with it without meds or going to the doc or anything, but I'm feeling it right now. I had an episode that sent me to the doc a few years ago because of stress from work and I thought I was having chest pains.  Turned out to be nothing and I haven't had any sensations like that until this week.  I think part of my issue is I"m dealing with this solo. I've always had a partner during previous uncertain periods (9/11) and I'm trying to cope with doing all this alone which makes some of the logistical stuff easier, but everything else kind of sucks.
Thank you. I can definitely see that. I know we're a poor substitute, but for sure I hope the board can be a little help there. You're likely already doing this but I'd encourage you to maybe reach out to a few folks and you commit to regular texting or calling or whatever to check in. Community is big. 

 
One of the best books I've read in a long time is Your Survival Instinct Is Killing You by Marc Schoen.

Short description - our modern life has made us so comfortable that anything that makes us uncomfortable, even the simplest of things, causes us to engage our survival instinct. Obviously a giant thing like this is going to cause that reaction.

Longer description - your brain has three parts:

1) The lizard brain that controls basic, automatic functions like breathing, heartbeat, etc.

2) The limbic which attaches emotions to input. This part still isn't traditional, it automatically triggers nearly simultaneously with the lizard brain.

3) The cerebral cortex gives us the higher reasoning abilities - thinking analytically and logically, and abstractly.

The book gives some good pointers on how to get over the first reaction that your reactionary brain gives you and engage the rational brain. Definitely worth reading.
Thanks. I bet this is very much the idea I'm thinking - just this guy likely actually knows what he's talking about ;)  Seriously though, it's not hard to see. Our environment has changed radically over the last few thousand years and our brains likely haven't changed much. 

 
Thank you. I can definitely see that. I know we're a poor substitute, but for sure I hope the board can be a little help there. You're likely already doing this but I'd encourage you to maybe reach out to a few folks and you commit to regular texting or calling or whatever to check in. Community is big. 
Definitely doing that and have text message groups with former co-workers, friends and family. 

 
So timely.  Thanks Joe.  Just used this as a series of talking points when addressing about 200 people. 

 
It can be for me. I typically deal with it without meds or going to the doc or anything, but I'm feeling it right now. I had an episode that sent me to the doc a few years ago because of stress from work and I thought I was having chest pains.  Turned out to be nothing and I haven't had any sensations like that until this week.  I think part of my issue is I"m dealing with this solo. I've always had a partner during previous uncertain periods (9/11) and I'm trying to cope with doing all this alone which makes some of the logistical stuff easier, but everything else kind of sucks.
My wife works with U-M hospital and has received memos from the top psychiatrists at U-M  on dealing with day to day stress right now.  The common theme is getting outside, and exercise and not indoors on a treadmill.  Although that is better than nothing. Sitting around listening to 12 hours a day of Corona will cause a blood pressure spike.

Put your headphones on with Pandora or whatever you listen to.  Go outside and walk for an hour.  I am been doing this morning and night and feel so much more relaxed.  10 minutes into the walk things seem to calm down and you get to escape and relax. I also take a different route every time. 

 
It certainly is easy to tell people to stay calm, but the fear factor will usually escalate faster than other blander emotions. I agree that it would be nice if we all knew that everything will be back to normal by a certain date. But saying we are preparing for this to be an issue for 18 months or more probably took a lot of wind out of a lot of people.

Sadly there will be a new normal for awhile. People shouldn't be panicking, they should be preparing. People need to be smart and make smart decisions. We all have to worry about all of us, not just some of us. We are all in this together.

 
My wife works with U-M hospital and has received memos from the top psychiatrists at U-M  on dealing with day to day stress right now.  The common theme is getting outside, and exercise and not indoors on a treadmill.  Although that is better than nothing. Sitting around listening to 12 hours a day of Corona will cause a blood pressure spike.

Put your headphones on with Pandora or whatever you listen to.  Go outside and walk for an hour.  I am been doing this morning and night and feel so much more relaxed.  10 minutes into the walk things seem to calm down and you get to escape and relax. I also take a different route every time. 
I've been getting out, pretty much playing disc golf and doing yard work every day. I think I'm also a little annoyed or maybe even depressed that instead of here dealing with this I was supposed to be in Europe on a 10-day solo vacation. The first real vacation in almost 4 years since moving out to PDX.  

 
My wife works with U-M hospital and has received memos from the top psychiatrists at U-M  on dealing with day to day stress right now.  The common theme is getting outside, and exercise and not indoors on a treadmill.  Although that is better than nothing. Sitting around listening to 12 hours a day of Corona will cause a blood pressure spike.

Put your headphones on with Pandora or whatever you listen to.  Go outside and walk for an hour.  I am been doing this morning and night and feel so much more relaxed.  10 minutes into the walk things seem to calm down and you get to escape and relax. I also take a different route every time. 
Agreed on the walking thing. 

 
I've been getting out, pretty much playing disc golf and doing yard work every day. I think I'm also a little annoyed or maybe even depressed that instead of here dealing with this I was supposed to be in Europe on a 10-day solo vacation. The first real vacation in almost 4 years since moving out to PDX.  
Hang in there Buddy. 

 
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What "panics" me is when I see the threat not being taken seriously or people not taking steps to be informed or protected. It is a novel virus one, we have not dealt with before and our understanding of it is being updated continuously.

 
urbanhack said:
I've been getting out, pretty much playing disc golf and doing yard work every day. I think I'm also a little annoyed or maybe even depressed that instead of here dealing with this I was supposed to be in Europe on a 10-day solo vacation. The first real vacation in almost 4 years since moving out to PDX.  
Very understandable.  Anytime a vacation that you were looking forward is disrupted is both annoying and depressing. Then pile on what we are going through right now makes it worse.

 

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