The Fear Factory

There have been so many digital superstitions flying around lately, and honestly, it’s brought so much fear into the hearts of many. I don’t know if it’s because the youths of today are now immune to things like this or they’ve grown bolder, but the only group of people that still get seriously worked up about all of it is the older generation; I mean, our parents and older relatives.

I remember my university days so well. My phone would keep buzzing, and I would think, “Who is this?” only to see multiple messages from my mom. Now, you would think it was something urgent or even life-threatening, but no; it would be things she had seen online. One time, it was about someone who died in a gas explosion because they were using a mobile phone in the kitchen while cooking. Another time, it was about someone who got burned because they answered a call while charging their phone. At some point, I got so exhausted that I had to archive her chat. I told myself, “You know what? Until she calls me to say she’s sent something important, I won’t even bother opening those messages.” Even then, I still had ask her to explain the contents first before I would go ahead to open it.

The truth is, these messages were never ending. And while I understand her concern and care, the anxiety it created was completely unnecessary.

Naturally, I’m a foodie, and I would be dishonest if I claimed to eat healthily. My reasons are valid if you ask me, but let’s not delve into that. The reason I’m even bringing this up is because of a particular digital superstition I saw online-not from my mom this time, but from Facebook of course. It warned against taking soda drinks after eating certain types of food. The post even included gory pictures of people allegedly dying from it. At first, I paused. Then I decided to do some research. After reading up on it, I honestly just laughed.

According to a renowned former chef at the New England Culinary Institute, “Apart from sugar as a prime ingredient, carbonated sodas don’t contain ingredients that can kill you. If you eat foods with soda, you won’t die.” I got to understand that besides a possible spike in blood sugar; especially if you combine soda with other sugary foods like mango, there are no fatal side effects. And it made me think: how many of these digital superstitions do we actually believe without checking the facts?

Honestly, I don’t give these digital superstitions a second look anymore. They’ve lost their power over me. I think it’s high time we all started doing some digging before hitting the panic button. The internet is filled with so much misinformation and fear-mongering, and if you’re not careful enough, you’ll find yourself avoiding things that are completely harmless or worse still, living in constant fear.

So, what I advise is, next time you get one of those dramatic forwarded messages, take a deep breath, smile, and maybe even do a quick Google search before panicking. You might just save yourself a whole lot of unnecessary worry.

First image is mine and the second is a screenshot from my phone

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