To those that don't want to wear a mask...

[Iamchangingmyusername]

I've seen a lot of threads on here with people annoyed that they have to wear a mask in public.

Aside from those with a legitimate medical reason, why are some people so anti mask?

Genuinely curious. I have had to travel to and from work throughout lockdown and the introduction of masks on public transport made me feel somewhat safer. Noticing less and less people wearing them, or wearing them as a decorative chin strap.

OK, apologies in advance OP for what will probably be a bit of an essay but I feel quite strongly about this!

I hate the idea of masks but won’t make a fuss and will abide by the rules around wearing them, as I have (broadly) done with all the other Covid regulations - I’ll just be avoiding places where they’re mandated as far as I can by shopping online etc.

Unlike many others my reasons for disliking them aren’t really physical/medical (although I do have chronic sinusitis which makes wearing them unpleasant); they’re more social, political and environmental:

• I feel that compulsory mask-wearing is being introduced more as a sop to the fearful than for any convincing scientific purpose; to me it’s governments’ way of reversing the fear that was (very effectively) instilled in people during lockdown and being seen to be doing something proactive. I accept that the medical evidence is there, but it’s marginal and based on people using masks 100% correctly, which in practice people seldom are.

• I question the logic of eg needing a mask to pop to the corner shop for milk but not needing one to sit in a pub or restaurant for several hours.

• I hate how all of last year’s moral panic about single use plastics etc has been instantly forgotten, and we’re now sending piles and piles of disposable masks and other PPE to landfill without a second thought. I’m seeing single use masks cropping up as litter everywhere - they were even floating in the lake of the otherwise immaculate RHS garden I visited last week!

• I worry about the implications of widespread mask-wearing for communication - for those who rely on lip-reading and those who need to clearly see facial expressions in order to infer meaning from language (this group may include those with conditions such as ASD, young children etc). Many groups will be left feeling marginalised if mask-wearing is enforced everywhere.

• As someone who has studied child development in some depth, I’m worried about the impact that prolonged and widespread mask wearing might have on children’s language/social development more broadly. Many children are already starting school with poor communication skills due to excessive screen time, limited parental input etc - if it becomes the norm in public spaces, will mask-wearing adversely impact the way young children learn via social interaction with others? I’m strongly against enforced mask-wearing in educational settings for this reason.

• On a much deeper societal level (and I’m aware that this may make absolutely zero sense!) I’m worried about the possible cultural shift that prolonged mask-wearing, along with the many other Covid-related restrictions may bring. Many people on MN have expressed a desire for us to more closely emulate Japan/China/South Korea/Singapore in the way we respond to government rules, but in many ways these are much more conformist, rule-bound and in some cases authoritarian cultures than ours. Yes it’s all very clean and orderly and considerate, but sometimes such unquestioning compliance comes at the cost of freedom, creativity and individual self-determination. Personally I don’t want to live in a society based on uncritical compliance to ‘The Rules’, no matter how arbitrary those rules are. I like the messy, sometimes chaotic nature of UK society, it’s creativity and questioning of rules, it’s openness and embracing of difference. So many of the measures surrounding Covid seem to require us to deny our own flawed humanity and behave like automatons, and mask wearing exemplifies this for me.

I can't hear people when they are talking, can't read facial expressions, they are uncomfortable

Think its a bit ridiculous to introduce now and not at the beginning.

As someone who works in food retail I would ask anyone who refuses to wear a mask to just stay home. We don't want to (or should have to) deal with anti social behaviour or abuse. These are government guidelines and something we have no control over. I am personally dreading the abuse and rants we'll be receiving.

I will wear one when I need to, but I question the logic of having to wear one to the supermarket when at most points tonight there wasn't even anyone in the same aisle as me, but I drove past the local pub on the way home and the car park was full and pretty much none of the outside tables were in use, so all the punters were inside. Covid is far, far more easily spread in the pub (or school) scenario but are not needed. I just don't understand. (And to those with track and trace as a response, that is shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Masks are presumbaly useful for stopping the horse getting out in the first place... )

Hate them. Done all the tips and my glasses steam up and I can’t bloody see. I’m a plus ten so can’t see a thing without my glasses and I can’t wear contacts.

I can see why they have to be worn but i will not be visiting any shops from now on. Strictly online.

Couldn’t agree more TempsPerdu. I will not be using public transport or going in any shops from 24th. I get groceries delivered anyway but the high street will miss out on my impulse non essential purchases from now on. If I need anything I will purchase online.

“I believe I have the right to have my face exposed”

Do you believe the earth is flat too?

I hate to rain on your parade but nowhere in the Human Rights Act does it state that you have a right show people your face 😂

How do all of you people think that NHS staff feel about wearing masks?! Guess what, we all hated it at the beginning, but we did it because we didn't want to put patients at risk. And now, would you believe it, we are still wearing them, without complaint, because we are responsible adults who need to protect those at risk. Just wear it, and get over it, or stay at home.

Because it’s bollocks in a nut shell. People sealing their faces in scarves, questionable hand hygiene, eyes uncovered etc is all kind of pointless. I’m a healthcare professional so l have a good grasp of PPE

I will be wearing one though

As someone who works in food retail I would ask anyone who refuses to wear a mask to just stay home. We don't want to (or should have to) deal with anti social behaviour or abuse. These are government guidelines and something we have no control over. I am personally dreading the abuse and rants we'll be receiving

But the thing is, no one on this thread is getting stroppy or saying they’re going to refuse to wear one - most posters have been at pains to state that they’ll abide by the rules. All we’re doing is expressing why we dislike them, which we are perfectly entitled to do.

Which exemplifies another thing I hate about masks and this whole Covid fiasco - it’s revealed the extent to which many people seem to desire an authoritarian society where people’s thoughts and emotional responses are policed along with their actions.

How do all of you people think that NHS staff feel about wearing masks?! Guess what, we all hated it at the beginning, but we did it because we didn't want to put patients at risk. And now, would you believe it, we are still wearing them, without complaint, because we are responsible adults who need to protect those at risk. Just wear it, and get over it, or stay at home

And again.

Basically what TempsPerdu said. Every poster seems to be saying why they feel uncomfortable but that they will wear them. Its fair enough to be able to say why we won't jump in the air for joy at the prospect of it
though

Retail staff will be on the receiving end of abuse though, we've already been given guidelines on how to deal with it.

It's just a request to be mindful that retail staff aren't responsible for these rules and to please not be abusive or vent towards us.

I’ve posted at length on other threads so won’t bother here, but I’ll just say that the actual mask-wearing, unpleasant though it is, is less disturbing to me than the militant mask lobby’s seeming desire to make everyone embrace widespread compulsory mask-wearing with open arms.

There seems to be no acceptance at all that many perfectly ordinary, law-abiding people will wear one but with genuine misgivings as to their utility and potential unwitting side-effects.

Aargh, apologies that last one was meant to be on another thread!

@Incrediblytired

“I believe I have the right to have my face exposed”

Do you believe the earth is flat too?

I hate to rain on your parade but nowhere in the Human Rights Act does it state that you have a right show people your face 😂

They never mentioned the human rights act? I am also not sure how you can compare the flat earthers with someone who prefers not to cover their face?

Absolutely - I don't envy what retail staff have had to go through, basically putting themselves out there every day. I can understand why bus drivers aren't challenging anyone without a mask for the same reason.

Some people will look for reasons to be abusive to people they encounter and I hate to think they would add this to their list. Have already seen it locally when staff were just trying to direct people down certain queues when lockdown came in. Unbelievable the level of arseholery when you could just be nice and respectful to someone and get through another day

reading these threads make me bloody depressed. There is no justification other than selfishness. People perceive their dislike of wearing a mask as more important than another persons health, physical or mental.

I

Everyone on here is basically saying 'Not keen but will do it'. We can't develop a song in our hearts and weep tears of joy about it but if we are still going to wear them the end result is the same

Ideas for glasses:

• make your own?
• smaller size?
• use a nose clip e.g. the ones you use in the swimming??
• the proper FFP2 masks used on hospital wards worked for me when I had my glasses on.

I don't think anyone feels physically or mentally comfortable in one, but it is a mark of respect, if nothing else.

People perceive their dislike of wearing a mask as more important than another persons health, physical or mental
No, people are expressing their dislike at the same time as saying they will comply, just not happily. I don't think you've read this thread if that's the reaction you've had.

It just seems a bit late in the day to bring this in, should have been a good few weeks ago. It will put me off shopping in shop, I'll just go internet instead or perhaps I'll get a mouth mask and a Lone Ranger one for my eyes

I'm not in the category where I refuse or wont wear a mask if I have too. Wore one today in the doctors surgery felt a bit panicky and claustrophobic. If there was a choice I probably wouldn't wear one, probably wont wear one in shops until next week when its mandatory.
Not quite sure why they will be mandatory now when months ago in the peak of it we were told it doesn't make a difference. Saw something on SM today that I thought summed it up
"Wearing a face mask 4 months into a pandemic Is like turning up at a baby shower with condoms "

@IrisPurple exactly. My fiancé is a glasses, tough he still has to wear a mask for 13 hours

Glasses wearer rather!