But (knowing many people who still mask, under varying circumstances) -- that's not why they mask.

It seems a little hard to psychologically disentangle what one does for social approval vs for other reasons. For example, maybe it feels emotionally uncomfortable to not mask. Is it because the subconscious is worried about disease, or because the subconscious is worried about social approval? Probably some of both, but if we removed one perhaps the external behavior would change, hard to tell.

Also IME it seems to cluster with other appearance related traits (e.g. type of dress, mannerisms, etc).

The reason some people still mask is very simple: For anyone who follows basic science, not what the crowd is doing -- N95 masks in enclosed / crowded situations are still a good idea, especially for those of a certain age.

Many people continue to wear useless (or only marginally) useful masks, and in non-crowded situations (even way out in the open). Which of course ranges from silly to, at best, only marginally useful. However it seems safe to suppose that they're doing so primarily out of strictly rational concerns (however faulty their understanding of better masking practices may be). Some partially, or entirely out of fear (an understandable reaction, if they've experienced a heavy bout of Covid, or have seen its effects in others).

Also, some may remember the temporary shortage of N95s, and still think they're being good, self-sacrificing citizens by wearing less effective (or even basically useless) masks. Or they just don't like wearing N95s because they're too constricting (meaning, "too effective"). However, that is at best a secondary factory, and not the main reason why they choose to mask in the first place.

But to recap: For the vast majority of folks who mask, it's out of (perhaps flawed) sense of pragmatism -- not because they are superstitious idiots, or primarily motivated by some subconscious desire to make a social statement about "who they are".

Normal people stay home when they're sick, they don't infect others, and the basic science takes care of that just fine. If crazy people want to follow "basic science" and mask up and go out in public while they're carrying an infectious viral load, then I guess we're in Japan or something.

If "basic science" compels the general populace to mask up, even when we're uninfected, unexposed, vaccinated, and asymptomatic, then I feel sorry for basic science because it's jumped the shark.

However everyone is tired of masking now, and prefers to forget this.

Then I saw reality, where a medical professional would politely remove her mask to sneeze.

Many reasons, not everything is about virtue signaling or other hyper-partisan political crap.

Disposable/cloth masks that do absolutely nothing to prevent the spread of an airborne disease like Covid do still work with diseases (like the Flu) with a droplet based spread.

> CDC says seasonal flu cases hit record lows around the world

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cold-and-flu/cdc-says-seasona...

The problem was the cult of people claiming that a disposable/cloth mask could be effective against an airborne disease, and being exceptionally hateful to anyone who wouldn't go along with this view.

However, it can catch the comparatively large droplets you produce when someone with the Flu coughs or sneezes.

Which explains why global Flu cases (with a droplet based spread) fell to all time lows while Covid (fully airborne) continued to spread like wildfire.

From basic physics -- of course it can. They don't work particularly well, but they do partly obstruct small droplet flow. In any case, there are easily findable studies about this asserting that even that crap-ola disposable masks have at least some measurable efficacy.

How exactly does physics allow a disposable mask that completely lacks a barrier to entry on the sides filter the air?

> In hospitals, the word “airborne” is associated with a rigid set of protective methods, including the use of N95 respirators by workers and negative pressure rooms for patients. These are resource-intensive and legally required.

https://time.com/6162065/covid-19-airborne-transmission-conf...

Medical professionals are not only required to use at least an n95 mask, they are required to keep it so tightly fitted to their face that unfiltered air cannot leak in through the sides. So tightly fitted that it digs into their skin.

> Exhausted doctors and nurses post images of their bruised faces after long shifts wearing protective gear

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-health-care-bruised...

Just because N95s are clearly better doesn't mean disposables are useless. Because, like, basic logic and stuff.

How does that prevent Covid from passing through the sides?

> Just because N95s are clearly better doesn't mean disposables are useless.

They are useless because they cannot possibly filter the virus out of the air that you breathe.

I like the way a member of President Biden's Covid advisory group put it.

If it can't prevent you from smelling cigarette smoke in the room, it cannot filter out Covid, since the smoke particles are on the same order of size.

Unfortunately we're going in circles here, and I'm going to have to bow out. You can believe whatever you want, about basic physics or anything else. It's a free planet, after all.

If I had to guess though I'd say most people mask up out of pragmatism, its kind of insane that our previous practice was to just pretend we weren't sick hard enough that we stopped being infectious.

And there are multitude of folks undergoing treatments that inhibit their immune system, where masking is especially important.

That said, people should stay away from cloth masks or surgical masks and use n95s/respirators.

Because around me in super-liberal-coastal-land practically nobody masks, and the ones I know personally who sometimes do have underlying reasons to be more cautious (e.g. relatives undergoing nasty cancer treatments and such that they don't want to spread anything to). It's been like 1 in 50 or 1 in 100 people at the gym I go to, for instance, this year. Or look at the crowds in the recent NBA playoff games.

Just because there's like five videos of it happening back in 2021 on r/publicfreakouts doesn't mean it's a normal occurrence.

That was my question! Where is this happening? Cause I'm really having a hard time reconciling people's random online claims with anything I've seen while out and about daily near me...

Is there just an Extremely Online segment of the public that keeps repeating 2020's arguments without actually getting out much to see that basically everyone else has adapted as case counts have died down and people have gotten vaccinated?

("Elder millenial" or whatever the fuck demographic they're calling it now, if that's a factor.)

We seem to fall on different sides of that divide.

It's fun to earn internet points by claiming to be astonished at how dumb others are, and how much we have figured things out. Maybe after several years of this, the game is growing old.

Tolerance, understanding, consideration used to be virtues. But not internet virtues I guess.

Just in case you never tried it and the pandemic situation starts warranting mask wearing again; I don't really care whether people mask.

More importantly how did you do it? I have tinnitus and almost all painkillers are ototoxic (I.e. they can make tinnitus worse). So I’m always in a catch 22 when it comes to treating my migraines.

Have you tried ginger? Maybe triphala (amla, ginger, and turmeric powder altogether). Ginger supposedly acts as a cgrp blocker for migraines, and just generally lowering inflammation might make stuff less apt to being triggered. Tinnitus does sound like quite the curse though.

I’ve also wondered whether the active noise cancelling headphones help? Just being used to block noise and not play anything back. The real question there is whether quiet actively helps or hurts the condition. Though it feels a little like a pressure turning on when my ANCs activate and I’ve wondered how that’d interact with tinnitus.

Otherwise I’d probably default to making a painfully tedious diary of my days and log any/all tinnitus events. I’d include noises, foods, time of day, weather, anything/everything. That’d be looking for environmental or similar factors/triggers. Though it’s a hair in your ear drum or something like that and honestly tough to imagine what would help.

> Tinnitus does sound like quite the curse though.

It’s been about a decade now of constant ringing. Cicadas in my ears. For the most part I’m at peace with it. It’s like emotional quicksand, the more you fight it the worse you feel. I just don’t want it to get worse.

I don’t think silence makes it worse, but I’d does isolate the ringing so that it’s all I can hear. For that reason I prefer we’ll sealed iems to ancs.

I’ll look at that ginger cocktail you mentioned, thank you :). Coffee is a bit of a silver bullet for me. A strong coffee usually makes a huge difference. (Which used to make me think it was a caffeine addiction, but quitting caffeine didn’t stop the headaches).

From that, I'd also imagine with tinnitus similar things would help that help with migraines - like proper sleep, a sleep routine, well hydration, low stress, and avoiding triggers. Triggers for migraines can be things like types of food, smells (fake lavender does me in fast/hard and many other smells), bright lights, etc.

My other big one is cocoa. Too much chocolate anything will guaranteed give me a migraine.

Also not exercising. If I'm sedentary for too many days in a row I will get a bad headache.

I don’t think silence makes it worse, but I’d does isolate the ringing so that it’s all I can hear. For that reason I prefer we’ll sealed iems to ancs.

It’s been about a decade now of constant ringing.

I’ll look at that ginger cocktail you mentioned, thank you :). Do you take it as a medicine or as a supplement?

Franlab did a cool video on her handling of tinnitus https://youtu.be/CYKxDGukU0s

The two don't match.

But just use a proper N95 mask, it's even easier to breath than other masks

Now that masks are no longer required, I still see people doing that. So presumably they're just ignorant.

Otherwise, I do find that weird and I am an ardent masker. Actually, come to think of it, the other day I drove home that way because I just forgot to take it off when I left the supermarket.

So there are non-weird explanations. I doubt they account for all the cases.

Plus I don’t get colds any more

I've got a neighbor who wears a mask to move his trash can the 20 feet from the inside of his garage to the pavement just outside. He also wears the mask when driving alone in his car.

COVID definitely broke some brains.

Sometimes I forget the hat or the mask and then I just wear one.

It makes sense to wear a mask when you’re on an airplane or if you’re a service worker in constant contact with the general public.

Now for me personally wearing a mask was almost impossible to ignore because I wear glasses, so my glasses were constantly fogging up and it was a huge hassle and nearly unbearable over the course of a day, so in my mind it’s extra surprising to see people wearing masks when they’re alone and in my mind it doesn’t make much logical sense to do so.

They could have forgotten it when they got in the vehicle from their last destination.

There may be a kid in the back seat you couldn't see that they are trying to protect (or protect themselves from).

I personally don't understand why this is remarkable. In no way are they hurting or affecting you. Why does it matter to you if they mask?

Even without microbial infections of grocery product, you do have to contend with pest insects such as roaches, weevils, and gnats infesting groceries. Quarantining them separately is a good way to carefully inspect to show that you're not bringing new pests into the home.