Not really. It seems like everyone else does though.
It seems like the media has influenced everyone's perspective on swine flu. I remember when we all first found out about it last year, my AI thought is was just a government scare thing, and an advertising tactic to get people to buy things. Like "beware of the swine flu! And while you're at it, buy our new product!" That's what he thought it was all about.
Everyone's got their own opinions on swine flu. Some think it's a big deal and they were first in line to get the vaccine. Others, like me, don't see is as that much of a threat. (Maybe if I get it, then my mind will change...)
I think the people who are scared of it the most are the ones who watch the news the most. Like my mother. She told me like 6 times to get the vaccine, and she made my brother get it. I mean, I'm not denying that people get the swine flu or that people have died from it. But really...
If you're not exposed to the news, you're not going to care about an issue that you're not really aware of. For one of my classes, we had to watch the news and take notes about the stories that were aired. Seriously, they talked about the swine flu for like 6 minutes of a half hour news show. And if you're watching the news every night...No wonder people are scared of getting swine flu.
The news has a tremendous impact on us. What we hear about the most, we think is the most important. They talk about crime a lot, and most people think crime is a big problem. It's not. But it's what we hear about all the time so we think it must be a big deal. The same thing happened with swine flu. They've been talking about swine flu for like ever, and that's why people think it's such a big problem. If the news people would just stop talking about it, I bet most of our swine flu problems would go away.
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I'm not really worried about swine flu... is that bad? I got the vaccine yesterday though because I gave up on IU ever having enough to meet all 10 days of their free clinic since they ran out already after one day!! I guess I'm protected now, haha...
ReplyDeleteI agree. In fact, we know very well by now that there is a very significant link between our psychological and our physiological health. Do you believe you might get sick? It's likely to happen, because you let your guard down. But if you are simply too busy to get sick, or to worry about it, you are running on high levels of Dopamine, which boosts immune system function, which keeps you from getting sick. If we panic about swine flu, it gets more likely that we'll get it, and we will probably get it worse. Like a girl at my workplace who was out for a month since she was all freaked out about it being swine flu. So Dear Media, thank you for your concern, but I'm not willing to worry, because I'd rather not get sick.
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