'Everybody takes, and I take': why do people buy toilet paper en masse - ForumDaily
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'Everybody takes, and I take': why do people buy toilet paper en masse

On the Internet, there are the most jokes and memes about toilet paper. It is represented as a kind of treasure that is very difficult to obtain, a jewel that can be given as a gift, a valuable trophy. Ksenia Turkova writes about this in her blog on "Voice of America".

Photo: Shutterstock

Next - from the first person.

Someone would tell me a year ago that my photo with the toilet paper packaging on Facebook would gain about 600 likes, I would never have believed it.

What is so special about toilet paper?

Especially this question excites those who come from the Soviet Union. They (that is, to us) understand everything: in the USSR toilet paper appeared only in the 70s, it was a terrible shortage, huge lines were defended behind it, and then proudly stringed around the neck like a bunch of bagels, and went home envy passersby.

But why does toilet paper cause the same passion among residents of the United States, Germany and Australia? In one of the Australian supermarkets, three visitors even got into a fight over the packaging of toilet paper.

And on March 14, Oregon Police even I had to turn to people asking Do not call emergency numbers to complain that they have run out of toilet paper.

The reasons why people buy toilet paper can be divided into rational and irrational.

Rational:

  • they say that the best disposable masks and disinfectant wipes come out of toilet paper;
  • toilet paper does not spoil, it is not heavy, it is easy to grab it from the shelf and throw it in the cart - it will not be a waste;
  • toilet paper consumption, for obvious reasons, increases dramatically if you are sitting at home in quarantine, which is why you need to stock up.

And here are the irrational reasons:

  • gossip. One of them is that due to the increase in the production of disposable masks, the production of toilet paper will be reduced. However, there is no confirmation of this information anywhere;
  • everyone takes it, and I take it—what if it really doesn’t happen later.

Anthropologist and urban myth researcher Alexandra Arkhipova believes that mass purchases of toilet paper are nothing more than the consequences of an infodemic, that is, an information epidemic when social networks and the media spread information about the virus faster than it spreads.

On the subject: Scientists called unexpected symptoms of the latent form of coronavirus

“It's just a common media cognitive bias. In conditions of panic, when it is necessary to stay at home, in quarantine, and not travel anywhere, people begin to stock up on everything they need, everything they need. And, of course, they buy not only paper, but also sugar, hand sanitizers, toothpaste, pasta, which are now disappearing all over Italy,” she says.

Add fuel to the fire photos in social networks with empty shelves from under the toilet paper.

“Imagine taking a photo of an empty toothpaste shelf or empty meat crates—it’s not nearly as cool as taking a photo of a shelf where toilet paper should be and writing a post about it. And then there’s just the usual media effect, and it seems that people are only buying toilet paper,” she explains.

In general, do not succumb to infodemia. However, jokes, including about toilet paper, are very helpful in protecting yourself from panic.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Scientists called unexpected symptoms of the latent form of coronavirus

Epidemiologist: quarantine stretches a pandemic in time, but does not reduce the number of infected

Tens of thousands of dollars: how much will COVID-19 treatment cost Americans

Coronavirus and psychosomatics: why stress and panic make us vulnerable to infections

Miscellanea Educational program coronavirus Special Projects toilet paper Positive
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