Contagion on social media

You may have heard about a study Facebook was involved in several years ago in which two control groups had their exposure to either positive content or negative content reduced on their timelines. Then, users were monitored to see how their posts on social media changed as a result of less exposure to positive or negative emotional content.

Significance
We show, via a massive (N = 689,003) experiment on Facebook, that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. We provide experimental evidence
that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (exposure to a friend expressing an emotion is
sufficient), and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues.

Of course, the effect was stronger in the control group where positive content was omitted, meaning negative emotion is more contagious.

If a person is sharing good news or bad news (thus explaining his/her emotional state), friends’ response to the news (independent of the sharer’s emotional state) should be stronger when bad news is shown rather than good (or as commonly noted, “if it bleeds, it leads;” ref. 12)

It’s been proven that our brains have a negativity bias which is likely a result of our survival instinct.

We all have experienced emotional contagion in face to face environments. I think the new learning here is that emotional contagion is possible even without direct interaction. This study proves that emotions can be manipulated at scale.

I wonder what else other than emotion can be virtually contagious? We know our buying habits are shaped and altered by social media and the internet (so do advertisers, hence the $200 billion advertising industry in the US). A friend recommending a product is said to be the most powerful form of advertising, which to me signals that buying habits can be contagious.

What about personality traits? Goals and ambitions? Hobbies?

How about movement disorders like Tourettes?

This popped up in the news for me this week and I thought it was pretty wild.

The summary is, since the pandemic, hospitals have noticed a surge in “rapid onset functional tic-like behaviours.” They have traced the origin of this to social media and several influencers who show tics on platforms like TikTok. Pun?

One influencer has an apparent tic where she says the word “beans.” Doctors were finding several patients with these rapid onset tics were saying “beans” as well.

An interesting table in the publication shows how these rapid onset tics differ from traditional Tourettes syndrome tics.

I read this table and see a clear pattern from what we have been learning about social medias effect on people. We know that adolescent females are disproportionately effected in terms of developing depression from social media. I assume that some of the factors that cause higher depression in females are contributing to the prevalence of FTLB’s in them as well.

This publication from Germany, describes the same issue. I found the language in the German publication a lot more direct and forward then the first one I linked which seems to me to have originated from Canada. I find the differences between the two articles amusing. Pasting some interesting quotes from the German publication:

Since recently, in several countries including Germany, UK, US, Denmark, France, and Canada (personal communication), an increasing number of videos was released on social media platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram showing people, who claim suffering from Tourette syndrome – a childhood onset chronic combined motor and vocal tic disorder – while in fact most individuals have functional symptoms only resembling Tourette syndrome. On February 21st 2019 – only shortly before the first patient with MSMI presented in our clinic in June 2019 – the German YouTube channel “Gewitter im Kopf” (English: “Thunderstorm in the Brain”) was launched by a 22-year-old man called Jan Zimmermann. Judging from the videos, he indeed suffers from a mild form of Tourette syndrome. On this YouTube channel, however, he shows a countless number of movements, vocalizations, words, phrases, and bizarre behaviours that he claims are tics, but are clearly functional in nature. Tourette experts can easily tell the difference

Affected teenagers of MSMI present with functional “Tourette-like” symptoms

Over the last two years, a remarkably high number of young patients has been referred to our specialised Tourette outpatient clinic presenting with symptoms closely resembling the ones Jan Zimmermann shows in his videos. All these patients had been pre-diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, partly even as treatment-resistant Tourette syndrome after having received pharmacotherapy with different drugs including antipsychotics. Remarkably, in none of these cases, neither the correct diagnosis of functional (“Tourette-like”) movement disorder (FMD) had been made, nor the interrelation with and influence by social media had been recognised. Although a detailed description of clinical characteristics is beyond the scope of this paper and is currently in preparation for publication elsewhere, here we want to briefly summarize, how in this group of patients diagnoses of “Tourette-like” FMD were confirmed. Firstly, all patients presented with nearly identical movements and vocalizations that not only resemble Jan Zimmermann’s symptoms, but partly are exactly the same such as shouting the German words “Pommes” (English: fries), “Bombe” (English: bomb), “Heil Hitler”, “Du bist häßlich” (English: you are ugly), and “Fliegende Haie” (English: flying sharks) as well as bizarre and complex behaviours such as throwing pens at school and dishes at home, and crushing eggs in the kitchen. Even more, similar to Jan Zimmermann, words and phrases are pronounced with changed voice in low pitch so that family members are able to differentiate normal conversation from supposedly “vocal tics” solely based on the tone of voice. Secondly, a substantial number of patients gave their supposed “Tourette syndrome” a name just as Jan Zimmermann does, who calls his symptoms “Gisela”. Thirdly, patients often reported to be unable to perform unpleasable tasks because of their symptoms resulting in release from obligations at school and home, while symptoms temporarily completely remit while conducting favourite activities. Fourthly, in some patients, a rapid and complete remission occurred after exclusion of the diagnosis of Tourette syndrome.

About half of Generation Z feels stressed or anxious with climate change being the top concern. Eco-anxiety is associated not only with fear, panic attacks, feelings of anger, guilt, and helplessness, but also uncontrollability, unpredictability, and uncertainty. COVID-19 pandemic may cause additional increase in anxiety and restrictions because of the lockdowns may result in increased stress due to home schooling, significant changes in families’ living together associated with increased rates of conflicts and domestic violence, lack of communication with friends, reduced or no contact to peer groups, and boredom. Thus, current outbreak of MSMI represents not only the “modern” form of MSI motor variant, but can also be viewed as the 21th century expression of a “culture-bound stress reaction” of our post-modern society emphasizing the uniqueness of individuals and valuing their alleged exceptionality, thus promoting attention-seeking behaviors, and aggravating the permanent identity crisis of modern man. It can be assumed this is triggered by eco-anxiety, COVID-19 pandemic, and further challenges in post-modern society.

We all have seen the effects of influencers on ourselves or others around us. This effect is magnified on impressionable kids and adolescents. This study seems to confirm this effect on a more extreme scale in which some people are so deeply “influenced” that they are basically copying disorders. The publications emphasize stressors like the environment, the pandemic, depression and other post modern societal challenges are contributing to this, which makes sense to me.

One piece I didn’t see discussed that I wonder about is the possibility that people are copying or identifying with a disorder in order to increase their social standing?

For those who are seeking attention, there is always temptation to do whatever it takes to get views and engagements, including faking disorders.

I see two types of people who may be prone to mimicking or exaggerating symptoms. The first group I would say is similar to people like Jan Zimmerman, who are directly producing content and being rewarded for it. The article states that Jan appears to suffer from mild Tourettes symptoms, but in the videos, displays exaggerated and wild movements that the article states are not Tourettes based tics, but are clearly functional in nature. I haven’t watched his videos, but it seems from the article that his exaggerated symptoms and behaviours have contributed to his rising popularity on YouTube.

In my own social media experience, I have come across a number of videos lately of people claiming to be autistic or having tics. I say “claiming” because a couple of the videos I watched seemed to be very over the top and dramatic about the apparent symptoms and seemed disingenuous overall. A number of the videos were also called out for being fakes. The volume of videos that I observed popping up showing kids with Tourettes or other disabilities also made me suspicious that fakes were mixed in.

If there is social utility to showcasing disabilities on social media, it seems logical to me that there will be copycats, and fakers, and people who are ultimately only seeking attention online.

The second group of people I assume are the people these publications are referencing. They are young and impressionable and easily influenced. Suddenly, they are seeing more content showcasing people with tics and are seeing those people rise in fame. I think about trends like Fortnite dances that sweep through young kids and suddenly they are all practicing the moves so they can do them at school to fit in. I wonder if there is a similar element happening here, where kids perceive taking on some of these symptoms will improve their social standing as well? The German article also talks about these symptoms leading to kids getting out of school or household responsibilities which could also be a motivating factor.

If you didn’t read the quotes I pasted from the German article above, kids were getting out of household or school related responsibilities due to their symptoms, but notably, the symptoms seemed to temporarily disappear when they were engaged in their favourite activities. Classic kids! I used to just fake cough and get really quiet and sad.