Wearing masks everywhere indoors is so depressing

[Sossen]

AIBU to feel frustrated and, at times, a bit upset that I can’t really do anything indoors now, either on my own or with my kids, without wearing a god damn face mask? I’ve just about been able to tolerate wearing them whilst food shopping but that’s because I now take a lot of time to write out a list and meal plan beforehand and I get in and get out, as opposed to before, when I took the time to browse, picked out what I fancied, and maybe tried on some clothes whilst there. I can cope with this ok but what is depressing me is that my ds is desperate to go to a few indoor places like the trampoline park (our local one has strict guidelines in hygiene social distancing and staggering sessions) and I’ll take him but the thought of sitting there for an hour and a half opposite my dh trying to talk to him with a mask on or watching my ds play and he can’t hear me because of the mask, well it fills me with dread. I had a cinema pass which i’ve has for years but I’ve already cancelled It as there is no way I can sit for up to 3 hours with a mask on, it would be unbearable. Every day out we go on that is predominantly outdoors but have some indoor areas I’ll have to remember to take masks with me. If I nip to post a letter, pick up my medication, go into a public car park to get my car after work I have to wear a mask. I expect to be told I’m moaning but I can’t help it. I fully resent the fact that I am being told to cover my face and I have no choice in the matter. Please tell me I’m not the only one.

@Letsleepingdogslie8

Not half as depressing and uncomfortable as a ventilator though.

Ventilators are no longer the preferred treatment. Hardly anyone is hospitalised any more and it’s a pretty mild illness for most people. History will see this is the biggest human overreaction of all time.

Full house, what's the bingo prize

I'm exempt. I wear an exemption card on a lanyard. Not one single person has commented or questioned me.I feel 'safe' from comment wearing it. A few of my local shops have signs up now stating that they will not refuse to serve people who aren't wearing masks and people need to remember that some people are unable to wear masks for differing reasons.

I put masks on my 10 year old twins even though they're exempt in most circumstances through their ages.
I'm severely asthmatic and exempt but continue to wear one because actually I can.
It isn't the nicest of things and it is always a relief to take them off but if it makes a difference in preventing the transmission then I'm willing.

All these people on the verge of a breakdown because of wearing a mask (not talking about the genuinely medically exempt people, I mean the melodramatic ones) how do they think medical professionals in full PPE on 12 hour shifts manage?
I know nurses who would be medically exemot from wearing one to Tesco but can survive a shift in full PPE (they also wear them to the shops).
My eldest (18) wears a face mask for 8 hour shifts working in McDonalds, not pleasant especially now people can eat in and some shifts involve running trays up and down the stairs for hours.

If you genuinely can't wear one for 10 minutes in a store then get your groceries delivered, slots are plentiful now and if you dont like wearing them for certain leisure activities then choose other things to do.
Trampoline parks and make up shopping aren't essential (though if you saw my maskless face you might disagree about the latter) so if you don't want to abide by the rules then do something else.

I feel bad for the people wanting to win the Mumsnet bingo so.... wearing masks can help save lives.
I've lost a friend to coronavirus (perfectly healthy 24 year old with no underlying health conditions) and also seen a friend of my kids be in and out of an induced coma for a month (kept relapsing) and now left with lifelong medical problems.
Stop being selfish babies and think of others.
If you genuinely can't wear a mask that is a different matter but most people are being pathetic whiny little snowflakes over it.

I hate them too. The virus would just go through them anyway so a pointless exercise.

Ynbu. Theres fuck all evidence for their effectiveness- particularly not the ridiculous cotton masks that so many wear (are people aware of the size of viruses?!) I just don't wear one op and have never been challenged.

Not half as depressing and uncomfortable as a ventilator though.

This is such a pathetic falsehood.

Unless you're over 70 or have a relevant health condition that makes your vulnerable, you're very, very, very unlikely to end up getting covid19 and ending up on a ventilator. You're much more likey to end up on a ventilator due to being in a RTA. But I assume you're still going near roads.

And even if you were to get covid19 and end up vented, a bit of old t-shirt over your face isn't going to help you.

3 year olds wearing masks is horrendous

But why? For most little ones they are wearing them through choice, normally for very short periods and just wanting to wear them to be like the bigger people. It's like dress up almost at that age.

Though in some countries children of that age do have to wear them - in Florida's anyone aged 2y or over bees to wear them in the theme parks. But that's a choice - go or not go whilst following the rules.

My 7y nephew loves his bright colourful masks. He wanted one to match his daddy. It doesn't impede him in any way when he chooses to wear it.

I really don't get the huge fuss over masks.

There are many reasons as to why we didn't have them in March.
One of those is that the research has since changed and that they do appear to offer some protection - more so than not wearing them. Round here a lot of people, especially vulnerable and older people were wearing them from the start anyway.

I want to be able to get out and about, and not be locked down, so I'm happy to don a mask which enables me to do so. I avoid getting vaguely close to people not wearing one.

Wear a mask protects others. But if two people both have a mask than your own mask can also add a little extra protection for you too.

There been Masses of research to show that masks do not restrict oxygen levels when worn. The main issue is people's own panic to wearing one. For the vast majority of these people practise, deep breathing and building up the time they're worn can overcome this barrier. Also trying different types of masks .

@RosieLancs I haven’t seen anyone ‘on the verge of a breakdown’ what i do see is people vocalizing their dislike for something, presumably the government and the MN police are still ok with that?

Theres fuck all evidence for their effectiveness- particularly not the ridiculous cotton masks that so many wear

But that's not true. More evidence has come through as to why they are effective in helping to reduce transmission.

As I said, I wouldn't challenge someone not wearing one but I do avoid coming too close when passing by. I have my own health to consider after all. I do all I can to protect myself, but can't stay locked away for ever either.

I agree OP, it’s miserable. I can just about cope with wearing a mask for errands or basic ‘In and out’ food shopping but it’s severely curtailed the places I’ll go for leisure, especially when I have toddler DD in tow.

For me it’s not just that I find them distracting and uncomfortable, but also the way they affect communication and social interaction. Most public spaces have just become joyless and functional now - lots of blank faces milling about, no smiles, less small talk/social niceties - the little daily things that bind a society together have largely vanished.

I also get the not being heard thing - I have a naturally soft voice and chronic sinus issues, which means I have to make a real effort to make myself heard through the mask, and this, combined with the heat and stress of it, leaves me feeling sinusy and headachy. I especially try to avoid taking DD into situations where masks are mandated, as trying to properly communicate with a two-year-old through a mask is far from ideal - plus I feel that her language development could be affected if everyone around her is masked for long periods.

DP is also exempt from mask-wearing due to trigeminal neuralgia, which makes things doubly stressful when we’re out and about as a family - we’ve had the mask police both tutting at him and demanding to know why DD isn’t masked too! On the plus side, we’re saving plenty of money and making the most of being outdoors wherever possible, so silver linings I guess!

History will see this is the biggest human overreaction of all time.

Someone described it on the radio as the biggest mass hysteria of all time that will be studied by psychologists for centuries.

Well, I wish we didn't have to; but it's better than either of the alternatives: risking death or severe illness from Covid 19, or having to avoid ANY sort of indoor interaction with other people for the foreseeable, in order to avoid the former. Also, we wear other things that are a bit uncomfortable. Personally, I draw the line at wearing high-heeled shoes; but there are people who happily wear them, and yet avoid situations where they might have to wear masks.

@RosieLancs there is no list of medical conditions that makes you exempt. The only grounds for exemption is not being able to wear one. Therefore your friends are not exempt from wearing one in Tesco. I get really pissed off with people who say they exempt but still wear one because clearly they do not fall into the only exemption category and are just being sanctimonious.

@redbushtea

I hate them too. The virus would just go through them anyway so a pointless exercise.

No that’s not correct. It’s true that viruses are tiny, but Covid is spread by droplets and aerosols which are arrested, to varying degrees of efficiency, by face covering material. Wearing a face covering essentially makes sure your exhaled droplets stay close to your own face and are not projected over other people. If your face covering is highly porous or badly fitting more droplets will escape, but they will still be slowed down to some extent.

Ok ok I went away for a while to pop to Asda and I come back and it’s chaos. That wasn’t my intention. I did say I fully intend to be told I’m over reacting but I cannot help the way I feel.

They make you suffer severe distress in your case so you are exempt. Print out an exemption badge from the Government website site and wear it on a lanyard round your neck in those places.

The exemption applies to everyone who suffers severe distress. No one other than you knows that and it is unfair on others in effect to say they can read your mind.

'If anyone has a problem with me saying that then please post a link with evidence that masking heathly people stops the spread of covid 19.'

Masking virus-free people doesn't. But there's LOTS of evidence that people can be currently healthy (asymptomatic or presymptomatic) and yet be carrying the virus.

I do find masks depressing as they depict a whole new world, how far away from normality we are in these times of the virus BUT I found it very frightening at the peak of the pandemic when no one wore masks, I wonder how many deaths could have prevented if we had worn them in indoor public spaces, we will never know...let’s hope that now they are mandatory that masks help reduce the spread of infection and ultimately help prevent a second potentially more deadly winter peak of infections.

The mask doesn't protect you - it protects those around you from the droplets the virus travels in. Which can be stopped by a mask - ever sneezed or coughed in a mask? The outside is dry, the inside is...well.

The virus doesn't have legs, it can't walk to its destination. It has to travel in the droplets you breathe out. The mask captures some of those - not all, but it's better than nothing.

However, I do think they've stopped social distancing as people feel 'safe' which is ridiculous. But, if we all socially distanced now, no-one would get into shops. There are too many out and about.

As for the 'if they worked we'd have had them from the beginning' argument. Where would these masks have come from? They needed people NOT to buy masks to leave them for the NHS and care workers. If we'd been told to mask up at the start of lockdown, we'd have been all over the internet trying to get them and the NHS would have had an even harder job getting the things. Mind you, the government could now off load the millions they bought recently that were the wrong sort and get 'our' money back!

As for not being able to speak in them...We managed very well on a day out last week and I do fine in my supermarket. Our nephew, in Singapore, had to wear them everywhere for months with a Sing$2000 if you were out in public without one. And his Chinese girlfriend wears one as a matter of course as she's been brought up to do so. They seem to cope.

And no, I didn’t find lockdown a barrel of laughs, but on the other hand I enjoyed the extra time at home with my family and quite enjoyed certain people not being able to come and visit. As far as I’m concerned lockdown hasn’t been lifted. I’m happy that I’ve been able to go back to work after months of WFH and I’m happy that I can certain friends and family members again but that’s about it. I wasn’t keen on having to queue up at supermarkets but I’d happily go back to that if it meant I was free not to wear a mask once inside.

. My daughter is except due to her asthma and autism but she feels forced to. The first time we went out with her not wearing one I was called a selfish bitch for not making her wear one.I didn't actually care but she cried. Now she tries to avoid going out but if she does we have to endure a mass meltdown afterwards (even though I've told her not to worry about wearing the mask). Due to this I have little sympathy for people who just find it uncomfortable.

And on the hearing front, I visited an ice cream parlour the other day where the staff were wearing masks and visors. The queue to get in was ridiculous, and when we finally reached the front we realised that wasn’t due to the number of people but the fact that communication was so ineffective - people were having to repeat themselves multiple times as servers couldn’t hear them, orders were getting mixed up, everyone was stressed - it was chaos. I ended up with raspberry ripple rather than raspberry sorbet but couldn’t face going back in to complain. It will take a lot of convince me that masks don’t hamper social interaction, especially for those with additional needs.

@TomorrowAlways where were you going inside at the peak? I was going for once weekly supermarket trips and that was it. I found the supermarket very well controlled with limited numbers and one way systems now it’s a free for all but it’s all ok as people are wearing masks.

Very depressing - and it gets even more so on MN because you will also be berated (by some perfect people) that you have no right to dislike it.

"When the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 1996 they restricted education, demanded men cover their faces with beards and women theirs with cloth."

I am not sure how this is much different.

And in my view, anyone that complains about anyone else's right to not be happy about face covering is the selfish one.

The OP is abiding by regulations when she has to. She is perfectly within her rights to feel restricted, annoyed, upset and whatever the hell she likes about this directive.