Is an infodemic making our fears worse?

ALITTLE more than a year ago, a massive health crisis hit our planet, launching us into a long-drawn-out time of grief and upheaval. There seems to be no end in sight as Covid-19 transmissions continue unabated, hitting the global populace where it hurts most: their families and communities, their careers, jobs, and businesses, their relationships... and their emotional well-being.

While feelings of sadness and anxiety are expected at times like this, fear is also starting to slither in, affecting even the normally buoyant and optimistic among us. We cannot help it. As the news media do their daily report on Covid counts, the congested hospitals, and our perilously overburdened health system, we feel a mounting sense of dread about what lies ahead. It’s not the distant future that concerns us; we stressover the immediate, unfolding scenario as days, weeks, and months go by.

The dismal state-of-affairs is now compelling us to take note of a phenomenon that is adding confusion to an already volatile situation. It is called “infodemic” and it is a spawn of the digital age.

According to the Merriam-webster web site, “infodemic is a blend of ‘information’ and ‘epidemic’ that typically refers to a rapid and farreaching spread of both accurate and inaccurate information about something such as a disease.” As facts, rumors, and fear mix and disperse, it becomes difficult to learn essential information about an issue.

The word “infodemic” was first coined in a 2003 Washington Post column by political scientist David Rothkopf and has seen vigorous usage during this time of Covid-19. At that time, Rothkopf described it as “a few facts that are mixed with fear, speculation, and rumor, amplified and swiftly relayed worldwide by modern information technologies.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) explains that infodemics refer to “an excessive amount of information about a problem, which makes it difficult to identify a solution. These allow misinformation, disinformation, and rumors to spread during a health emergency. As a result, infodemics can hamper an effective public health response and create confusion and distrust among people.” This was stated by the United Nations Department of Global Communication in March 2020.

I have personally experienced the insidious effects of infodemics and I am sure many people can relate to this. All throughout this pandemic, an endless cycle of information circulated in Facebook, Messenger, and through the widely popular Viber app. Practically everyone we know has sent and forwarded scores of messages about a plethora of subjects, but mostly on varied data and issues about Covid-19.

Along with the good intentions, we did appreciate those that were helpful and enlightening. Funny memes and texts, shared prayers, inspiring thoughts, and cheery birthday greetings served to ease tension and stress. But when messages—reshared and recycled—came in mindnumbing regularity, we realized that it had become an obsession for a number of people. The daily habit of “over sharing” became disquieting. Instead of bringing hope and positivity, such Viber messages became clutter that often messed with our minds and toyed with our feelings. We became less confident about the resolutions that we hoped would end the pandemic.

I do not wish to offend anyone with my point of view, but I do find “an excessive amount of information that make it difficult to identify a solution”—the exact same words used by the WHO referring to the word “infodemic.”

To cite an example, recent weeks saw a proliferation of news, shared info, and even intense debates over the rollout of vaccines and a controversial drug called Ivermectin. To this day, the vaccines remain a contentious subject and Ivermectin, a drug that is being touted as a low-cost cure for Covid-19, is helping muddle the issues. There are groups that are obviously promoting Ivermectin and those who question its claims, so there’s an active exchange of opinions in traditional and digital media, especially in the Viber groups.

How can one wisely discern the “fake news” from what’s real and authentic? It’s not easy. There are fact-checking organizations such as Snopes.com, which can instantly tell you if the news is fraudulent or not.

Snopes.com, which has been checking out viral claims and online rumors since the mid-1990s, maintains a list of known fake news web sites, several of which have emerged in the past two years. But does everyone really have the time to have these web sites validate every single message? I’m betting most of us don’t—even those who are glued to their laptops or phones.

I can only offer a few practical ways of dealing with messages, and these usually require only our good old common sense:

first, check your source or where each text message came from before you press forward or respond.

IF your Viber text starts off with:

“From another Viber group,” “A must read: also worth sharing,” “Reposting from my cousin’s niece who is a medical frontliner” or “Let this go viral,” please think twice before you forward it—you could be sharing an item from the infodemic wasteland.

Also, a text that spurs you to keep on sharing it could mean there’s something questionable about the sender’s motives. Messages go viral on their own when their contents are useful and interesting.

If your sender is a good friend or someone you personally know or is a respected expert in the field of medicine, then go ahead and read it because they probably took time to write it and to benefit many. I can name a few real authorities such as Dr. Tony Leachon and Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, who have offered consistent health advice to the public during this pandemic.

We are also cautioned to watch out for potential scams. I have come across an advisory released by the Philippine General Hospital, for example, announcing that they were not behind “a call for monetary donations for PGH Covid-19 patients, supposedly coming from the PGH Medical foundation.” Their warning: be wary of false information circulated by unscrupulous individuals.

Develop a critical mindset and learn to question the information you receive.

ACCORDING to Mindtools.com, “Much of the fake news we see is written to create ‘shock value,’ which is intended to call on our strong, instinctive reactions such as fear or rage.” This means we must not be swayed by our emotions when we read stories that are shocking or appeal to our fears. It may be tough to do so but let us try to be rational and critical of everything we read or hear.

Let’s ask ourselves: why is this story being circulated? To persuade me to do something? Are they selling a product? Are they trying to get me to circulate this in my circle of friends? Will it make my friends fearful, distrustful, or disturbed? Am I adding to everyone’s nervous tension by shocking them? If the answer to these questions is yes, then think rationally and don’t believe everything you hear or read.

examine the evidence.

AGAIN, Mindtools.com says: “A credible news story will include plenty of facts—quotes from experts, survey data, and official statistics... or detailed, consistent, and corroborated eyewitness accounts from people on the scene. If these are missing from the messages you get, then question it.”

Look for hard evidence in what is being fed to you. There are two kinds of fake news: stories that are totally made up and designed to manipulate people into believing them. To the second kind belong stories that contain some truths but are not 100 percent accurate.

Remember: personal opinions, testimonials, Viber or Whats app chain messages, Facebook posts and comments do not comprise medical evidence so we must look for solid data culled from proper research— and the certification and approval of trusted institutions—before we believe certain claims.

A doctor told me that the best way to check if a drug is indeed a “wonder drug” as others might claim it, is to check what the reputable institutions have to say about it. So trust organizations like the WHO (World Health Organization), CDC (Center for Disease Control), the DOH (Dept of Health), the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration), and medical associations like the PSMID (Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases) and the PCP (Philippine College of Physicians).

Don’t take everything you see or read at face value.

THIS includes videos from certain foreign or local individuals who may introduce themselves as doctors, medical frontliners or sometimes even ordinary individuals who recommend their own homebased cures or share personal episodes involving certain medicines or even practices that, they swear, have worked for them.

Modern editing software has made it easy for people to create fake images that look real. Unfortunately, this is the downside of social-media platforms today: anyone can publish their thoughts or share stories with the world using only their mobile phones and their audacity in misleading people. They count on the fact that most people don’t check the source of what they view online before they share it and inadvertently help the spread of “fake news.”

As recipients of all this information, we must not allow ourselves to be easily swayed to believe everything we see, and worse, to go ahead and share it with others. Research has shown that very few people can tell when images are fake.

Lastly, let us not contribute to the contagion called “infodemics” and help banish all sources of ideas and discussions that put our health—or lives—in peril. Share only what you genuinely know is factual and what you personally believe in.

I would like to conclude by borrowing some thoughts from a well worded reflection by a dear friend Roby Alampay, news anchor of TV 5. This was going around Viber groups as I wrote this article. It’s about the arguments over Ivermectin and I quote one of his key points:

“Wherever you stand or whomever you listen to on the debates over Ivermectin, be wary of the dangers of peddling or just relaying conclusions that experts and authorities themselves are saying are not there yet... it weakens our institutions and regulators. This is for me the key backstop to any discussion we take part in, even if it’s just in your own Viber or Messenger group.

“None of us are scientists or doctors. The attacks on the FDA have become ad hominem and reckless, suggesting that anybody against Ivermectin must be anti-poor or corrupt. This is the same FDA we trusted and begged to hold the fort against a clear government bias for unproven Chinese vaccines. We told them to hold EVERYBODY to the process. Now we would accuse them of doing their jobs?

“Let’s not weaken our institutions further... we all have powerful platforms and vulnerable circles and audiences—titos and titas, I’m sure you’ve noticed, who respect everything we share. Let’s be careful not to be used for anybody's agenda. And let's not exacerbate the targeting and weakening of institutions, the impact of which will be felt over a much longer term than that even of Covid.”

Now that’s a point of view I would readily share not only because I agree with Roby Alampay but because he is my trusted source.

PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier association for senior communications professionals around the world. Joy Lumawig-buensalido is the president and CEO of Buensalido & Associates Public Relations.