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One possible harm I've seen postulated is moral licensing, i.e. wearing a mask makes people feel safer and thus makes them more willing to be indoors in close p
by Godel_unicode 5y ago
One possible harm I've seen postulated is moral licensing, i.e. wearing a mask makes people feel safer and thus makes them more willing to be indoors in close proximity for longer.
A counter-argument says that wearing a physical thing can act as a constant reminder of covid, causing people to act more responsibly.
Back on the harms side again, there's a possibility that teaching kids "just do this and don't ask questions" can have negative consequences. Again, the counter argument of letting them ask questions and carefully explaining what we do and don't know can be a positive.
- simonw 5y agoI wonder if there has been research that attempts to answer the question of whether masks encourage less safe or more safe behaviour - it feels to me like something that would respond well to a well designed study.
- BoxOfRain 5y agoAnecdotally speaking, in my corner of England social distancing went out of the window shortly after masks were mandated in shops.
- nerdponx 5y agoIn addition, several of the "masks don't work" studies I saw had to do with people touching or messing with their masks undoing any benefits of actually wearing a mask.
- ummwhat 5y ago>Back on the harms side again, there's a possibility that teaching kids "just do this and don't ask questions" can have negative consequences. Don't worry. The schools teach that with or without masks.