When COVID-19 first hit, most people weren't only worried about their health and their loved ones, or the lack of toilet paper for that matter — they also had a genuinely difficult time adjusting to the measures established to slow the spread of the virus. As highly-social creatures perfectly-adjusted to dance the social dance with other humans, maybe even thousands a day if we live in cities, social distancing and wearing face masks felt incredibly unnatural to many.
Perhaps this lost social connection, and the anxiety it induced, even played a major role in COVID denialism. Perhaps even some people who fully acknowledged that COVID was a threat right from the get-go felt that the enormous lifestyle changes the pandemic so suddenly thrust upon the world had such a negative mental health impact that "just living normally" was worth the risk.
Research conducted since those early days of the pandemic has shed much more light on this. One study discovered that most people have trouble reading the emotions of others who are wearing masks, for instance, while another found that masked people tend to physically seem further away from us because of this same phenomenon. Further research revealed that mask wearing can have even graver consequences for minority groups, who faced increased discrimination and racial harassment due to mask wearing.
It's no surprise, really, that so many people truly hate face masks — and are thrilled to be able to take them off after being fully vaccinated against COVID-19. If you're one of them, you may be shocked to learn that some people are actively embracing face masks, and aren't planning to take them off even if they can. They're being called social maskers or situation maskers.
Who would actively choose to keep wearing face masks — even beyond the pandemic?
On the surface, the social reasons the people interviewed by NBC gave for continuing to embrace mask wearing were quite similar, and ultimately the very same reasons that caused others to hate masks with a vengeance:
- Masks offer some anonymity, or at least make the mask wearer feel as though they do.
- The fact that face masks have indeed been confirmed to make it harder for people to read the emotions of other humans may, for some, offer huge benefits. There is no pressure to perform happiness, by smiling, when you are distressed or sad, since others may not know what is going on underneath the mask.
- Because masks hide part of the face, some women who previously felt pressured to wear makeup now no longer do, a welcome change to them.
Their underlying motivations, however, differ significantly. Some people may welcome the increased anonymity because they are introverted, while others have social anxiety disorder, PTSD, or are autistic. The result can be the same other way; a break from the overwhelming impact that interacting with people can have, particularly in situations where you may not truly want to.
Health reasons remain an important consideration, too
There are convincing health reasons to keep wearing masks as well — N95 respirators filter out the majority of airborne pathogens and other harmful particles. That makes their continued usage an excellent way to reduce exposure to air pollution, especially in regions prone to wildfires.
For the nearly one third of Americans who suffer from seasonal allergens (in some cases accompanied by truly debilitating symptoms that ruin the sufferer's quality of life for months at a time), masks can also offer relief. They may have discovered that their allergy symptoms weren't as bad when they were wearing masks during the height of the pandemic, and want to keep on enjoying the same quality of life this afforded them.
Then, there is of course the — recently often-missed — fact that COVID-19 is not the only virus to pose a risk. Mask wearing likewise reduces exposure to common, and less deadly but still irritating, threats such as common colds. This may especially be an important consideration for people who are living with vulnerable loved ones, with chronic diseases and compromised immune systems.
I choose to continue masking for now: Will you?
I, the author of this article, am one of the "situation maskers" who isn't quite ready to stop wearing a mask while running errands outside and in public places like the grocery store. My reasons are many, and the health and social motivations very much overlap — to the point where it's almost impossible to tell where one begins and the other ends.
I am grateful to have been vaccinated. Not everyone has been vaccinated yet in my region. Some don't (yet) have access, and some choose to refuse vaccination. My children are among those who don't have access yet, because they are waiting for vaccines to be rolled out to people in their age groups. Others may not have had their shots because they are undocumented, for instance, and are afraid of the administrative repercussions of trying to get vaccinated.
Unlike some of the people in the NBC article, I really quite dispute the idea that masking offers any degree of anonymity. My neighbors don't have any trouble recognizing me in a mask, and I know that the reason I can step into my local bank branch with a mask and withdraw cash without any problems is that they know who I am, because they remember me from before the pandemic. I do, however, feel like the mask offers some sort of barrier. I got used to wearing it, and going out without it feels a little like forgetting to put on socks or underpants — just not really the kind of thing you do.
Socially, I do feel like the mask gives off vibes that I sometimes appreciate; "do not disturb". When the football hooligans are roaming around the neighborhood drunkenly after a game, that definitely makes me feel safer as I throw the trash out.
Maybe I'll take the mask off, if vaccination levels in my region rise drastically, but I'd be prepared to put it on again any time — because, as we've been warned, more pandemics will emerge in future, and with dangerous COVID variants still out there, this one isn't done yet, either.
For now, though, my mask is staying on. What about you? Have you waited for the moment when the mask could come off for ages, or would you be happy to keep masking up?
Your thoughts on this