bradfrankSep 20, 2023
k

I went to my optometrist this morning. They don't require customers to mask anymore, but were happy to have all their staff wear masks, including receptionists.

After my appointment finished, I noticed that all the waiting patients had masks as well, which I originally thought was just good luck. However, the receptionist told me that every customer had entered without a mask, and within a few minutes they all either put on their own mask or asked for one from the receptionist, noticing that they were the odd one out.

This experience powerfully showed me that for many, the decision to mask or not is heavily influenced by peer pressure.

Sep 19, 2023 at 4:56pmWeb
Show threadrobrykSep 19, 2023

@kh

In some cases it might also be a variant of caring for others where you care for others about as much as you think they care for themselves.

Show threadCurrentBiasOct 20, 2023
@robryk @kh which is a race to the bottom in a culture that teaches people not to value themselves
Show threadrobrykOct 23, 2023

@currentbias @kh

I do see why it would depress the amount of caring that happens, but I don't see the positive feedback loop mechanism (why would caring for others as much as for yourself decrease how much you value yourself?).

Show threadPhoenixSerenitySep 19, 2023
@kh This is great to hear.
Only me & the optometrist dr were masked when I went for an eye exam last month. He told me rest of staff stopped wearing them & they've all been sick multiple times. He hasn't been sick since before covid because he's never stopped masking up indoors.
Show threadLady GuruSep 20, 2023
@msquebanh @kh my boss and I were talking about health problems (she's actually very understanding about all of the increased health problems I have been going through since having had covid once). She confided in me that she has had covid 5 times, and is having a lot of health problems - she doesn't wear a mask. I had to stop myself from saying "that's why I still wear a mask".
Show threadkSep 20, 2023
@TheReallyLazyWriter @msquebanh I wonder if people feel like they missed their chance and that it doesn't matter if they mask after they already caught it. Maybe your boss doesn't realize that yet another infection could make her health even worse?
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPESep 19, 2023
@kh I wait outside in the street and get them to call me in when it's my turn.
Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEOct 28, 2023
@kh Didn't have any choice today. The queue for the covid vaccination was outdoors, whether people liked it or not. 👍 ✔️
Show threadSalix Dubois • they/themSep 19, 2023
@kh This is why I found it so disapointing that so few teachers hold their ground when mask mandates were removed. Leading by example actually works if there are enough examples.
Show threadCavyherdSep 20, 2023

@salixdubois @kh

Me: "Hey! I'm a peer! I can exert pressure, too!"

Show threadgeographileSep 19, 2023
@kh when my physical therapist first saw me wearing a mask she offered to wear one near me if I wanted her to. I can't imagine working in a small room with other people and not choosing to wear one.
Show threadKevin Karhan Sep 19, 2023

@kh It is...

People don't mask because they know it's right and good but because people that do mask like us don't give a shit if they don't but punish them with looks...

Show threadKatLSSep 19, 2023

@kh everything is peer pressure. Surrounded by idiots? Humans try to fit in. “Hold my beer…”
That’s why it’s best to surround oneself with people who raise the bar.

Drinking, singing, dancing and laughing are also important health components.

Show threadDemianSep 19, 2023
@kh I think especially when you see all the staff doing it
Show threadTHIS ACCOUNT HAS MOVEDSep 19, 2023
@kh I went to my physical masked today. Everyone was masked at the hospital except one receptionist. You are right on.
Show threadSwiss Chalet SommelierSep 20, 2023
Is it peer pressure or people recognizing that masks are worn for the benefit of the people around the wearer and if none of those people are wearing masks why should the hypothetical wearer pay the maskless folks that courtesy?
Show threadkSep 20, 2023
@wes have you found that people understand that masks protect those around you? Many people I've encountered seem not to grasp this 😓
Show threadSwiss Chalet SommelierSep 20, 2023
@kh no, sadly. Where i live (rural) it seems to be seen as just a political statement...
Show threadQuarterSwedeSep 20, 2023
@kh All it takes is one leader and the rest will follow. There’s a powerful video of a random guy starting to dance by himself at a festival looking like a total dork for a while but he keeps going. Soon another joins and then within minutes a crowd has formed all just enjoying themselves. Just took one to lead. That’s all it ever takes. Be the leader.
Show threadWendy LadySep 20, 2023
@kh crowded social security office today and the security guy was kindly passing them out to everyone who appeared to have a cough or cold and then everyone else would ask for one after that.
Show threadLeftyLabourTechTorontoSep 20, 2023
@kh With governments no longer imposing any rules, all that is left is social pressure.
Show threadauthor_is_ShrikeTron🔠💉x7Sep 20, 2023

@kh. When we thought we learned something as a society that smoking was collectively bad for us all…

No we really didn't learn the lessons…

Show threadHTLCSep 20, 2023
@kh Today in NYC employees at my dentist office all wore masks including the dentist. They used to wear faceshields 🛡️ over masks. I was surprised because we’ve all been lax even in here in NYC but see we care do sort of about our community ;)
Show threadMartha HowellSep 20, 2023
@kh
A friend had to appear in court last week, testified unexpectedly, and the judge gruffly admonished her to speak up, through her mask, clearly annoyed. The week prior, the city prohibited visitors to jail inmates because of Covid spread (dame building), and our wastewater chart is getting nosebleeds due to the rapid climb.
Show threadkSep 20, 2023
@MHowell I'm glad at least that she was able to wear a mask, what with more and more stories of masks being banned in some places (I think I heard of masks being banned for juries somewhere, too)
Show threadDebbie BelairSep 20, 2023
@kh God people are stupid! I got past that nonsense after high school.😂
Show threadArtemesiaSep 20, 2023
@kh Two years ago I was saying that the best and perhaps only thing a regular cloth or surgical mask does for the wearer is shame those around him/her into putting on their own mask. That said, I do these days use a KN95 or N95 both with metal nosebridge, which after you shape the nosebridge down around your nose *does* afford you some increased protection, though not as much as it does for those around you.
Show threadkSep 20, 2023
@artemesia absolutely important to use good masks! We had asked the optometrist employees to use at least kn95, but all the customers had surgical only. I personally use n95+ respirators for public indoor spaces. I've only seen a handful of others in the wild doing the same
Show threadJayMooreSep 20, 2023
@kh I went to the supermarket wearing one the other day. No one else was. On the way out, a woman shopper stopped me and asked 'do we all have to start wearing them again?' She had heard of the recent outbreak in a care home nearby and seemed nervous. People are waiting to be told/shown.
Show threadRichard R LeeSep 20, 2023

#BehavioralChange via Nudge. #MaskUp with an #N95.

@kh

Show threadmcgrewSep 20, 2023

@kh This doesn't surprise me. I think most people don't wear one because they don't want to seem "afraid" or weird. If everyone else is doing it, then it doesn't seem weird.

I still wear one when I go anywhere that's indoors because I don't care what other people think.

Show threadKelvin n0mql EN35ldSep 20, 2023

@kh
For most, it's simply a matter of choosing better peers, it would seem.

But when one is mocked by a forcefully vocal minority of idiots, societal behavior shifts.

By some dumb luck, I was quite repulsed by the popularity-mongers from about 6th grade onwards, so things like being the ONLY person in a public place wearing an N95 doesn't bother me one bit. But I know most people are not like me in this regard.

Show threadWill Breaden MaddenSep 22, 2023

@kh Or they were respecting the apparent boundaries of others.

@nemoudeis

Show threadinkbotkowalskiSep 23, 2023
@kh was at the dentist's recently and all staff wore masks - I was the only patient who wore one, too. I don't think people still carry masks here
Show threadBasilOct 29, 2023
@kh reminds me of the smokey room experiments.
https://youtu.be/KE5YwN4NW5o?si=MAWnGjqmK-iOovCb
The smoke filled room study

YouTube
Show threadUlrikeOct 29, 2023
@kh
Oh, yes. Months and months ago, I heard a podcaster talk about how he'll do whatever the crowd is doing re: masking. It shocked me. I decide what I'm going to do ahead of time, and then I do that.
Show threadDeusOct 29, 2023

heavily influenced by peer pressure

Don’t know what the scientific name (or phenomenon) is called but there was this experiment (with a video) where two men started staring and pointing at the top of skyscraper in NY. There wasn’t anything going on in the top floors nor anything to be concerned about. Within minutes there was a crowd that collected who also started looking up the skyscraper.

Show threadRuby S.Oct 30, 2023
@kh This is exactly why I'm religious about masking! It's protecting everyone else much more than me anyway. I mask because I want other people to mask.
Show threadAlyson DeckerNov 7, 2023
@kh there is so much peer pressure not to mask. I’ll have so many people see me in a mask at events and either tell me they wish they felt comfortable doing it or start masking on the 2nd or 3rd day of the event.