As someone who doesn't want to get Covid or any of the other viruses floating around, I mask indoors.
But I have to disagree with the people who say "masking is easy" as a way to try to convince (or judge) others.
Setting aside the social aspects of it, masking is not easy, physically, for everyone. And if you have any sensitivity issues (HSP/highly sensitive person here๐โโ๏ธ ), it might be somewhere on the spectrum of tolerable from most to least.
I've tried different masks, but no matter which ones, the straps cut into my ears, even the over-the-head ones. At the end of a long journey, I'm in some sort of pain or discomfort.
They're terrible for dealing with a runny nose. And my nose runs when I come inside from the cold even when I am not sick. You either have to break the seal around your mask to use a tissue, or you have to hope that you can keep your runny nose contained. Not a great choice either way.
They also tend to contribute to dry eye. Then, if you wear glasses, use earplugs/noise-cancelling headphones, or need anything else around your face/head, the combination starts to feel oppressive.
If masking is easy for you, that's great. I don't think it's easy for many people, and some people may not even be aware of or be able to express why masking is difficult for them in a society where we are often supposed to ignore or at least stay quiet about physical discomfort -- this might be true even if the majority were still masking.
So, two things can be true. Masking is important in various situations and according to various factors, but it's not necessarily easy. For me, the risk and discomfort of disease outweighs the physical discomfort of the mask, but it isn't like while I'm wearing it that I'm not longing to rip it off at the soonest safe opportunity.
[#]MaskUp #CovidIsNotOver #HSP #Neurodivergent
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from Furthering@convo.casa
@Furthering I'm not fond of the act of masking either, it hurts my ears, it pulls on my hair. Yet I do it everywhere, inside always and outside if there's people. I'm lucky that I don't have to mask every day for 8-hour sessions, but 3 hours at most during long medical appointments.
I think there's such a general massive fear of admitting the inconvenience of masking, because it will be used as an excuse by most people to not do it. I've been bullied too by people, as have many others, by people refusing to mask, acting like little toddlers throwing a tantrum about how annoying the inconveniences are, and being a crybaby on purpose. Nobody wants to accidentally cater to that or give them ammunition to continue.
There's also this aspect that even though masking sucks, the suck levels can't compare to the harm done of not masking. Accidentally hurting others with infection, making yourself ill with all of the consequences, tiring out limited healthcare, helping the virus mutate... Even if the discomfort of a mask is a 9/10, the consequences of not doing it will be at least 10/10. It's not just an individual choice to make, it's something that impacts all of those around us too. So there's this fear of turning masking into a "do or don't based on if you can handle it"-topic, or a simple risk assessment, but in my eyes it's way more severe than that, it's not optional and we just have to bear it.
Like you, I wish there was more compassion in all of this. We can't force people to mask with yelling, probably. And we can't let not-masking slide. The making them do it but also having care for the shittiness of it all, is a very difficult middle ground. Because the world is currently so actively anti-mask, tolerating mask complaints feels like too much of a dangerous slide into anti-maskness for many, I assume. There's a strong desire to weigh in on the pro-mask side to compensate. I felt the desire in me too when I read your post, even though I get it. Yet here I am writing a long comment because I'm like "yeah true but, but, but"
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from reading_recluse@c.im
@reading_recluse For me, this is a "yes, and" situation. For me, it's helpful to admit that masking is deeply uncomfortable physically (and while most people without high sensitivity may be bothered less, I am sure others who are masking are bothered even more than I am). That doesn't mean I'm not a masker or pro-mask.
I guess I see some harm in pretending it is not true for anyone and gaslighting people about their own experience. Society already does this too much, particularly with regards to medicine, to women, etc.
The way I think about it is that someone trying to be convinced to mask is likely not going to be convinced by the "It's easy!" argument if that hasn't been their experience -- they might not know why it wasn't easy or have a real "reason," but this type of argument may come off as dismissive.
They MIGHT be more receptive to, "It may be hard or awkward or uncomfortable sometimes, but I'm with you, and these are all the good reasons to do it anyway and all the bad things that can happen if we don't . . . " The message is still positive and responsible, but it is also validating.
=> More informations about this toot | More toots from Furthering@convo.casa
text/geminiThis content has been proxied by September (3851b).