Downside of Media

Town Criers. Word of Mouth. Newspapers. Magazines. Radio. Television. The Internet. Social Media. These are all forms of communication. Some are older than others, yet they are all effective in doing one thing; sharing news. This is a great thing for with each advancement, with each chapter of evolution in media, the world has become a smaller place. It has allowed everyone to become closer and share all that is important to us and all that we love.

Yet it has an even greater impact on our lives. Negativity. Fear. We as a society depend on the internet. We constantly are on our phones checking Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. We stream television and news on our phones. We receive alerts on topics that are important to us. We don't stop hearing about the most relevant and recent topics depending on the time of year and what is going on. The entire world is depended on how one can access information.

It has made the world a more dangerous place. As humans, the moment symptoms of a cold come up we immediately search webMD to discover what it could be. Let's see I have a runny nose, a cough, sore throat. It must be the flu. Or perhaps pneumonia. Bronchitis? Oh no what if it's worse?! These are the things we imagine, the things we think and look up when the reality is it could be the common cold or just allergies.

Today we are now doing something similar and in some cases much worse with today's newest affliction. Many of us are now afraid to leave our homes, especially if we have even the slightest cough or sniffle. At this time in particular as it is the spring of 2020, it makes it even harder and worse. We as a society are afraid that we perhaps have COVID-19 instead of thinking that maybe it is allergies. "But I've never had allergies before." I'm sure that is what some of you are saying. What you need to realize is that your body is constantly changing.

As a child I had terrible pollen allergies which some how disappeared when I was a teenager and in my college years. Now as an adult my pollen allergy has returned. If I go out to the store, even with a mask on and start coughing or sneezing, someone looks at me like I have the plague and takes three steps back.

People see certain diseases and conditions as death sentences these days and a lot of that has to do with how the media is portraying the world around us. In the 1980s it was HIV and AIDS, a disease that is now one that millions of people live long lives with the proper combination of medications. Some people have even been cured by this deadly illness. From the 1800s to well into the 1900s Tuberculosis was so contagious and devastating, that the mere mention of it made people fear death. Rabies, Bubonic Plague, Smallpox, Syphilis, Influenza, Cancer, Malaria, Pneumonia. Diseases we all know well we were once all deadly in modern civilizations.

In third world countries people still die of such contagions, a more developed area doesn't have to fear as much. In fact, though COVID-19 is suh such a deadly and dangerous disease, as of 2018-2019 flu season, more than 80 thousand people died. Unfortunately, the CDC does not have answers as of right now how how many died from the flu for the 2019-2020 season due to deaths from COVID. We hear about the death toll all the time though. What we do not know is the survival rate. Yes as of May 17th, 2020 more than 312 thousand people have died from COVID. Yet the survival rate is much better. More than 1.71 million people have survived this disease. There are 4.66 million cases. This means that less that 6.7% of people infected have died and 37% have survived. We need to focus on the positive.

We need to stop letting the media break our spirits. They focus on the negative never the positive. If we continue to look at what is good and what we are doing right, then the world will return to what it once was.