PERCEIVING RISKS & REWARDS

Tired of wearing mask? I hear you.

I was talking to a colleague from Australia last week.

She said that in her country, they are required to wear mask everywhere at a 250+ rate of new infections a day. While I said, I was driving by a lake last week for a presentation, people are enjoying every inch of the beach space. No mask at all.

There is a dissonance between what the public health authorities are asking everyone to do and what people are doing otherwise. People go to the beaches, enjoy public events and restaurants, avail of health services, and outdoor sports and recreations, like they used to.

The fatigue in keeping the rules of social distancing and wearing masks is a social phenomenon. There is a certain limit to how far the public can keep up with restrictions in the name of collective public safety, health, and well-being.  The social deviance is a response to this but there are deeper factors at play. 

It is beginning to show that individual registers to risks and rewards are very different and sometimes, antithetical to the establishment. In fact, I would surmise that instead of being able to curb out deviant behaviors through fines and penalties, it will rise up as force to reckon with. 

How much of what is perceived are purveyors of real risks? How much is pure fluff and can be dismissed as overreaction? 

Perception is reality. Perception is the only real thing. 

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