To Mask or Not to Mask? Strong Ties Matter Most
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mask-shaming
Masks — something found in households few and far between pre-2020 — are now as much of a staple as our socks. We cannot leave the house, enter a store, or see our friends without these trusty face-coverings. Masks genuinely have become a matter of life and death; they have become not just one of the best protective measures against COVID-19, but a symbol of the pandemic that has forever altered our lives.
Ever since Covid-19 swept through the nation, the topic of mask-wearing has been a polarized one. The WIRED article above discusses the dependency on one’s social network ties to ensure the collective public works together in protecting themselves and each other by mask-wearing. While part of our society (including Cornell) has turned to public shaming to keep peers, colleagues, friends, and strangers in check, this above article argues it might be better to rely on pre-existing group bonds rather than social media, such as Instagram accounts created by strangers or other public shaming platforms.
One’s strong ties have a much greater influence on their own behavior; thus, the spread of mask-wearing among one’s network is much more rapid and strong-holding when it spreads via strong ties. A disease like COVID spreads quickly across strong and weak ties — you can catch it from your sister, just like you can catch it from a stranger next to you at a restaurant. However, a behavior spreads better over strong ties. If all of one’s best friends wear masks, then one will be likely to wear masks as well, a considerable effect of one’s network.
However, a challenge to persuading people to adopt mask-wearing is activating weak ties through social media. One might be influenced by what the influencers on social media are doing or government leaders’ actions on TV. The best option, it seems, is to have one’s strong ties all abiding by mask-wearing, while also activating one’s weak ties to encourage mask-wearing, without the public-shaming aspect. With this ideal combination, the rapid spread of safe behavior could expand across populations faster than the virus.