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| Be careful, son. Don't want to hear about this on Facebook! |
Mommy/Parent Shaming
Back in the day if something terrible happened to a child that event would, at most, be covered by the news and serve as a warning to others to reconsider their parenting practices.Then life would go back to its mix of routine and the unexpected.
Nowadays, if Johnny doesn't have sufficient hand dexterity by the time preschool rolls around it's because his mother didn't create enough 'sensory play' activities in the home. This is a warning sent out in pins, posts, tweets, and e-mails. You name it. And when something truly horrific occurs, the breaking news covering it is only the start of an onslaught of public commentary. Read: Heartless criticism:
Rare tumor? Well, I would never let my kid eat non-organic food, I bet that's why this child got cancer.
Kidnapped on the way home? I never let my kids go anywhere alone. Ever.
School shooting? That's what happens when you don't home-school.
Where was the mother when this child had a freak accident?
And so on.
It's all there on the internet for people to pick apart and most of that turns into finger-pointing straight at the mother. Is it any wonder then that many mothers are absolutely terrified of making a "bad" choice? -- One in which a negative result is possible.
Though extremely rare, there are risks involved with vaccines and as soon as some parents hear that they can't bring themselves to go along with the injection. They are paralyzed by fear and perceived judgement. What if it's their child who is 1 in 17,000,000? They can just see it now:
She actually agreed to stick toxic* chemicals in her baby and now s/he's injured? What kind of mother does that?
Which bring us to our next internet side-effect...
Passivism by way of Naturalism
How do you get out of making tough choices? Keep it natural, baby.
Yes, letting nature take its course is the coping mechanism many parents are opting for today. Because they don't actually see it as a choice (though it most certainly is one). They believe that by abstaining from modern interventions with their children they can wash their hands from blame should something not turn out right.
In other words, if a child gets a rash from elderberry, that's cool. Whatever. That ol' Mother Earth is a tricky one! If the child gets a rash from penicillin, well, the parents took a risk and should have known better.
How did we end up here?
As I said, people were already looking for a way out. A way to distance themselves from the scary things that can happen when you're in charge of tiny precious lives. You take that desire and couple it with an internet fraught with "all natural" promotions telling viewers there's no risk** involved, and BAM. You've got parents who want to believe essential oils can cure anything, it's herbs or nothing (not even prescribed medications), and that immunity by infection is the way to go.
Now listen. If measles becomes commonplace again, it will be ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES more likely for one's child to have a serious negative outcome from this disease than from getting the vaccine. Let me repeat: ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND TIMES. But that's a gosh-darn-awful risk some people are willing to take to avoid guilt in the one in a MILLION chance something "unnatural" might happen to their child as a result of their decision-making.
Why do some parents throw statistics out the window?
The Paranoia will Destroy Ya'
I have the perfect case study. I know a fellow who runs on fear. He watches the news late into the night and makes decisions throughout the day based on paranoia alone. He'd seen a story on his Facebook feed once about how a child was difficult to extricate from her carseat after the vehicle slipped off the road and into murky water, but luckily the parent had scissors nearby to cut the safety belts. He shared this post multiple times and, sure enough, the next day he had heavy duty shears in the glove compartment and the trunk. He tells me this as he's putting his under-2 year old in a front facing carseat in the front passenger chair of his pickup truck.
CLEARLY car accidents that cause immediate child fatalities -- especially when kids are not properly restrained -- are more common than seat belts causing harm. We all know this. But successful public health recommendations do not garner all the 'Likes.' Sensationalized, rare events do.
What's more, I believe the phrase "What your fill in the blank doesn't want you to know" is destroying our society. It too is fueled by paranoia. Specific to this topic, enough people have clicked on articles informing them that their doctor is profiting from each vaccination and that these injections are making everyone sicker for job security. Your local newspaper won't tell you that, but truth-seekers of the inter-webs unite, right?!
DIY Everything
People, we've lost our reverence for the professionals.
Not only do we think they're hiding things from us left and right, we're no longer impressed with the years of training that went into their careers.
DIY blogs have told us we don't need no education. And I get it, there have been things I learned online that helped me to do simple jobs around the house that I would have otherwise wasted my money on had I hired them out. But I want to think I know where to stop. Like, heavy electrical work. I won't risk getting electrocuted or burning down my house just because some guy is telling me he's got an easier "life hack." I'd much rather call a pro for that.
The same is true for medicine and public health. Unfortunately, so many are caught up in the DIY spirit that they write long, incredibly long blog posts claiming that hours/days/weeks/years on the internet makes them a statistician. But I've yet to read a single one of them use ANOVA analysis, compare t-scores, discuss confounding variables or null hypotheses. If that doesn't sound the alarm like "extra" parts left over from a DIY mechanic job, I don't know what else to say.
Down with the Internet?
No, and I'm sorry if this entry reads like an attack on technology. My goal here is to recognize how the anti-vaxx movement is spreading. Once we see the patterns that perpetuate false information or exploit common fears among parents we need to do what we can to fix this. It's about education and reassurance. It's even about better marketing ourselves. In my own efforts, I've tried adding PubMed articles to my Pinterest page, but there's been little interest in that. But I write an article about Gwyneth Paltrow's vagina and my readership soars. Now I'm just waiting for Kim Kardashian to get a vaccination in her derriere and, my pride aside, you know this blog will run with that.
That's how important this is.
Now SHARE this blog with all your friends or I'll tell everyone you gave your kids non-organic kale... And then tweet about it.
*This is not true. And if you're worried about preservatives, most vaccines do not carry them and where they exist there is often a preservative-free option.
**This is also false. I've known plenty of people who ended up in emergency rooms after taking herbs without talking with a healthcare provider first.
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