Page 11 - Fear Unmasked Flipbook

I NTR O D UCTI O N

Idleness truly is the devil’s workshop, and many
quarantined Americans are idle right now and are
unsure of what to do with their down time. So, for
the same reasons people like gossip and spreading
rumors in the office break room, people who are now
stuck at home are simply spewing their fact-free fears
on Facebook and other social media platforms for all
of the world to see. Whether it be for reasons that are

either conscious or subconscious, many Americans
are trying to pass the time by writing increasingly
alarming posts which leads to more shares, online
debates, and “social interacting” during this time of
“social distancing” and “emotional distancing.”
Ironically, in this world of constant digital
connectivity, people were already feeling lonelier and

more isolated than ever, even before the coronavirus
panic. Think about the last time you went to a
restaurant before the coronavirus shut most of them
down. Were the people at the restaurant looking at
each other or their smartphones? The start of being
physically present but completely mentally absent
began with the omnipresence of your smartphone.
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Nielsen reports that now the “average” person is
spending 11.3 hours per day consuming media. The
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ability for fear to be spread virally via smartphones
is new to us all. Consider this: in 2009, the “swine
flu” infected 60.8 million American people and

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