At Least As It Gets Cooler We'll Get Along Better
It’s good we hold our elections in November and not in August.
Our sweet spot, when it comes to getting along, seems to be about 70 degrees F. As the weather gets warmer, really warmer, we get irritable and grumpier. Extremely cold temperatures can wreck our moods as well. Everything from our relationships to our motivation can suffer, and I detailed in last week’s newsletter post how hot weather causes spikes in emergency room admissions for mental illness. Well, it makes us like each other less and makes us less open to alternative points of view as well.
This is especially evident in internet hate speech. It’s ironic that when the effects of climate change may be most apparent we’re most incapable of rationally and cooperatively discussing challenging issues about which we may disagree. Issues like climate change.
Research published in The Lancet illustrates the extent of the influence of weather on our online interactions. Researchers used AI to review 4 billion tweets collected from 2014 to 2020 from users in the US. From these tweets about 75 million (2% of the total) met the UN’s definition of hate speech. When they were sent was profoundly influenced by the weather.
On days when the temperature exceeded 86 degrees F aggressive and negative tweets jumped 22%. When the weather plunged below freezing they were up 12%. These changes held across climate zones, income quartiles, and political and religious beliefs.
As 4 in 10 Americans have experienced online harassment, and as online aggression becomes normalized, the potential for increases in dangerous personal and societal stress during extreme temperatures can only damage our ability to constructively confront divisive issues. Let alone just accept each other and our differences.
It’s interesting and important to note that the data collection period for this study, just like the study cited in my last post, did not include the time of the Covid pandemic or the social and political discomfort we’ve experienced in the last two years. All of that mess we have dealt with so poorly is selected out, giving us a clearer picture of how a changing climate can impact aggression and, subsequently, mental health.
Online aggression leads to high levels of anxiety, depression and self-harm. The fact that this aggression spikes during extreme weather gives us one more thing we must prepare for should the climate continue to change.
If you’ve read either of my books, Practicing Mental Illness or Handling Anxiety in a Time of Crisis, please take a moment to post a review on Amazon. More reviews help authors sell more books. Thanks.
One last thing. Watch your moods when you invest. Here’s an interesting study to consider if climate change is making you anxious. People who are sad are more likely to invest in mutual funds that focus on sustainability than are people with a positive outlook.