Newly-minted words: doomsurfing and infodemic

SEELEY LAKE – COVID-19 has infected not only our bodies but also our language. Three interesting new words arising from the pandemic are doomsurfing (and its companion doomscrolling) and infodemic.

Whether or not Kevin Roose originated the phrase doomsurfing, he certainly offers a vivid definition of it in his New York Times April 20, 2020 article: “I’ve been doing a lot of this kind of doomsurfing recently — falling into deep, morbid rabbit holes filled with coronavirus content, agitating myself to the point of physical discomfort, erasing any hope of a good night’s sleep.”

Doomsurfing refers to an almost addictive pursuit of Internet coverage related to the coronavirus. Doomscrolling more accurately describes the same activity on a cell phone.

To avoid sleepless nights and endless worry, mental health experts recommend limiting the number of hours you allow yourself to surf or scroll for COVID news. Better to stick to a few trustworthy sites, or at least balance the doom with some COVID humor, which is also rampant on the internet.

Infodemic is a word used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to refer to the dissemination of false information about the coronavirus. The WHO laments that news of false cures are spreading almost faster than the virus itself. Look up “false COVID-19 cures” and you’ll find an unbelievable number of claims debunked by WHO.

- Gargling with salt water will neither prevent nor cure COVID-19. Neither will consuming large amounts of boiled ginger or turmeric or lemon water or mangos or onions or garlic or refraining from eating ice cream or frozen foods.

- Vegetarians are not immune to COVID-19 and eating chicken doesn’t cause it. Drinking cow or camel urine or rubbing cow dung on your body is disgusting but not a cure.

- Snorting cocaine does not sterilize the nostrils against the virus. Mixing amphetamines, cocaine and nicotine (available on the Dark Web for $300) does not create a coronavirus vaccine.

- COVID-19 cannot be killed by cold, snow, saunas, steam inhalation, hair dryers, overly-hot baths, UV light or chlorine bleach (though drinking that last one will kill you – painfully).

- Drinking industrial methanol is only effective in that it will kill you before COVID can do it.

- Drinking alcohol will neither kill nor cure the virus, though it might make you forget it for a while. Vodka is also not a substitute for hand sanitizer, nor is a mix of rum, bleach and fabric softener. In fact, mixing bleach and alcohol creates chloroform which is toxic to breathe (let alone ingest). And the addition of fabric softener does not keep it from burning the skin.

- For those living near the Philippines, ash from the Jan. 12 eruption of the Taal Volcano does not have either disinfectant or anti-viral properties.

And yes, all of these and more are circulating on the Internet creating a most deplorable infodemic.