The COVID-19 pandemic is upending our lives by the hour. It is testing our systems, our psychology, our behaviors, and our values. It is also revealing deeper and more lasting truths about our shared condition. We are beginning to see, with fierce clarity, how uncertain tomorrow is, and how dependent we all are on each other's choices.
Like many of us, I am sheltering in place with my family. My husband and 10-year-old son have never been big on board games, so we are watching a lot of television. Superheroes are a particular favorite.
Superheroes all have their differences, and good people can disagree about which is better between DC Comics and Marvel, but we all generally thrill to what they have in common – they step up to defend humanity against villains bigger than any of us, and they do it together. Okay, and they do it with mad skills.
But maybe the values our biggest heroes stand for also tell us something about who we are and who we want to be.
The first time I ever heard about the Ebola virus was nearly 20 years ago from an Irish epidemiologist named Mike Ryan. I remember hearing him describe his day job – thousands of miles away from his family every time there was a suspected outbreak of one of the deadliest pathogens known to man. I remember thinking it was one of the bravest things. Mike Ryan now runs the emergencies team at the World Health Organization (WHO) and, with all of his colleagues, is helping lead the coronavirus fight on which all of us right now depend.
Most Americans before last month probably gave little thought to the WHO. Yet today, we are all now counting on WHO to lead the global fight against COVID-19. We look to WHO for expertise, for information we all can count on, and for frontline support to countries in need. We look to it for the leadership that encourages everyone else to engage – from companies with critical supply chains to coalitions dedicated to medical innovation to artists and community leaders who are crucial role models in this worldwide mobilization to beat back a disease no one had ever seen. Dr. Tedros, the Ethiopian physician and statesman who today leads WHO, is rightly becoming a household name.
At the start of this global crisis, WHO prepared a plan to combat the disease and has been seeking support from all quarters with the clock ticking. At the UN Foundation, the organization I am privileged to lead, we went into high gear to help, working with the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation, to establish a first-of-its-kind fund that would allow anyone, anywhere in the world to support WHO's effort. Within days of launching the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, we raised $100 million and counting from leading companies, employees, foundations, and citizens from around the world. Gamers are helping. Celebrities are helping. Individuals are crowdsourcing contributions, donating their birthdays, launching challenges, and just showing up in exceptional ways. Over 200,000 people on digital platforms alone have given more than $8 million.
Since the crisis began, WHO has shipped personal protective equipment to 75 countries, provided lab supplies and test kits to over 125 countries, trained over 1.5 million health workers to track and respond to emerging cases, provided global public health guidance in multiple languages, and supported multi-country efforts to accelerate development of therapeutics. It has also strengthened WHO's ability to focus on vulnerable populations from northwestern Syria to Kenya, where health systems face severe strain.
As powerful as the funds have been, even more so are the moving expressions of solidarity, compassion, and kindness: "Stay strong Italy." "We are in this together." "In these crazy times, it helps me to do something small to help with something really big." "We will beat this."
It was Dr. Tedros, the head of WHO, who decided to call it a "solidarity" fund and was he ever right.
COVID-19 has jolted the world awake. Like climate change and other collective threats on our horizon, this virus is showing us in immediate, personal, and heartbreaking ways just how interdependent we all really are.
There will no doubt be many public health lessons from this challenging moment in our history – about investing in health systems, preventing and tracking viruses, developing and distributing tests, incentivizing medical innovation, and the right approach to tackle a threat that impacts all aspects of our lives.
There will also be lessons about justice. While a virus can be a great leveler, it also confronts us with the consequences of inequality, where 600 million people around the world don't have access to water to wash their hands. And 80 million displaced people globally can't socially distance to save their lives.
Perhaps the largest lesson of this crisis will be about our profound commonality before a threat that doesn't respect borders, and the amazing, inspiring, and breathtaking ways humans can, at their best, be human and lift each other up.
This crisis is, already, rich with heroes. Every one of us staying at home is helping keep someone else safe. Every health worker who can't go home to his or her own family or who treats patients when they don't have protective gear is showing a superpower that should awe us. Every act of kindness is helping remind us of who we can be.
Superheroes indeed.
Ambassador Elizabeth Cousens is the President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation. To give to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund visit, https://covid19responsefund.org.
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Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.