IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijphth/vyid10.1007_s00038-020-01412-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Living with COVID-19-triggered pseudoscience and conspiracies

Author

Listed:
  • Takele T. Desta

    (Kotebe Metropolitan University)

  • Tewodros Mulugeta

    (Kotebe Metropolitan University)

Abstract

Objective This piece of work proposes a way for the wise management of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Methods This work encompassed a review of relevant literature and synthesized the critical thoughts on the proper management of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Result The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) overwhelmingly challenges the competency of the digital generation. Consequently, public had been left stranded, helpless and anxious, especially during the peak season of the pandemic. However, this crisis creates a conducive environment for pseudoscience and conspiracy theories to proliferate. Pseudoscience and conspiracy theories negatively impacted the effort made to contain COVID-19. Conclusion This piece of work, however, argues that although pseudoscience and conspiracy theories are real threats to conventional science, effort needs to be made to develop a sort of database to archive and curate them for downstream use.

Suggested Citation

  • Takele T. Desta & Tewodros Mulugeta, 0. "Living with COVID-19-triggered pseudoscience and conspiracies," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 0, pages 1-2.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s00038-020-01412-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s00038-020-01412-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00038-020-01412-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00038-020-01412-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heidi J. Larson, 2020. "Blocking information on COVID-19 can fuel the spread of misinformation," Nature, Nature, vol. 580(7803), pages 306-306, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ni, Dan & Jiwen Song, Lynda & Zheng, Xiaoming & Zhu, Jinlong & Zhang, Mengyi & Xu, Lingxiao, 2022. "Extending a helping hand: How receiving gratitude makes a difference in employee performance during a crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 967-982.
    2. Aida El-Far Cardo & Thomas Kraus & Andrea Kaifie, 2021. "Factors That Shape People’s Attitudes towards the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany—The Influence of MEDIA, Politics and Personal Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Gruener, Sven, 2019. "An empirical study on Internet-based false news stories: experiences, problem awareness, and responsibilities," SocArXiv xbez9, Center for Open Science.
    4. María Jesús Fernández-Torres & Ana Almansa-Martínez & Rocío Chamizo-Sánchez, 2021. "Infodemic and Fake News in Spain during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    5. Josh Bullock & Justin E. Lane & F. LeRon Shults, 2022. "What causes COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy? Ignorance and the lack of bliss in the United Kingdom," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Christopher B. Raymond & Paul R. Ward, 2021. "Community-Level Experiences, Understandings, and Responses to COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Ethnographic Studies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-26, November.
    7. Alessandro Lovari, 2020. "Spreading (Dis)Trust: Covid-19 Misinformation and Government Intervention in Italy," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(2), pages 458-461.
    8. Kyza, Eleni A. & Varda, Christiana & Panos, Dionysis & Karageorgiou, Melina & Komendantova-Amann, Nadejda & Coppolino Perfumi, Serena & Shah, Syed Iftikhar Husain & Hosseini, Akram Sadat, 2020. "Combating misinformation online: Re-imagining social media for policy-making," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 9(4), pages 1-24.
    9. Takele T. Desta & Tewodros Mulugeta, 2020. "Living with COVID-19-triggered pseudoscience and conspiracies," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 65(6), pages 713-714, July.
    10. Qiang Chen & Yangyi Zhang & Richard Evans & Chen Min, 2021. "Why Do Citizens Share COVID-19 Fact-Checks Posted by Chinese Government Social Media Accounts? The Elaboration Likelihood Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-17, September.
    11. Concha Pérez-Curiel & Ricardo Domínguez-García & Ana Velasco-Molpeceres, 2023. "Exploring the Political Debate over the COVID-19 Vaccination on Twitter: Emotions and Polarization in the Spanish Public Sphere," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijphth:v::y::i::d:10.1007_s00038-020-01412-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.