Blog Post 3 – The Analytic Post

With the theme of this blog being debunking false articles, I decided to look into recent “fake news”. I found this article from Factcheck.org by Saranac Hale Spencer. The article is titled “Stimulus Checks Won’t Reduce Future Tax Returns.” This is an important topic because not only do many people depend on the stimulus check but people also need their tax returns to help them in tax season. The stimulus gives people making $75,000 or less a year $1,200 dollars. It is understandable to think that this sounds too good to be true. However, with the stimulus check, there is still a limit to how much unemployment benefit funds you can request. This is standard for the unemployment insurance system. Hopefully the pandemic ends soon so that people can get back to work and not have to depend on limited funds. I hope this article relieved whoever was in need of the funds.

Article: https://www.factcheck.org/2020/04/stimulus-checks-wont-reduce-future-tax-refunds/

Blog post 2: Connected writing

Blog post 2: Connected writing

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My dog, Lucky, enjoying the nice weather we’ve been having. Even his mood brightens up when I ask if he wants to go outside.

A post shared by Biorh (@bh.mdst485) on May 4, 2020 at 10:18pm PDT

Mental health is a topic that has fortunately become normalized over the course of the last decade. From athletes to political figures, mental welfare has evolved from “just getting over it” and “bad days”. We understand now that not everyone is mentally stable enough to withstand certain conditions and need extra support in challenging times. One of the easiest ways to better your mental health is reflection. Often people call it meditation or simply “me time”. I figured with the weather getting better, I should look into how being outside and getting fresh air can boost your mental health and overall morale. Here are two sources that touch on this topic.

Pearson, D. G., & Craig, T. (2014). The great outdoors? Exploring the mental health benefits of natural environments. Frontiers in psychology, 5, 1178. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01178

-This source discussed the relationship between urbanization and mental health. In the conclusion, it touches on how more access to greenspaces or natural environments could boost mental health.

  Khan, A., & Kumar, S. (2014). EPA-1362 – Nature and mental health: to what extent can nature and outdoor activities improve the mental health of young people with depression? European Psychiatry, 29, 1–1. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-9338(14)78574-8

This source talks about a study done where time outside resulted in short term mental health in young adults ages 16-25. One important point that was brought up was that in order to achieve long term results with this practice it must be done regularly.

Fake Fake News

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Drive through COVID-19 testing in Denver. ( Courtesy of Chet Strange of the New York Times)

A post shared by Biorh (@bh.mdst485) on May 4, 2020 at 10:01pm PDT

The term “fake news” was popularized in 2016 during the presidential election due to many articles that had clear biases to several candidates. Since then, Fake News has been used by many people in pop culture.It is used as an attack to discredit sketchy sources.Also, the term can be used to slander someone who brings up information that discredits the person using the term. The reason this term has become toxic is due to the pandemic at hand. People are at home all day during the quarantine and watch the news constantly. There have been public figures that have lied about statistics concerning COVID-19, mainly the number of those infected and deceased because of the virus. With it being harder to trust those in power, trustworthy media is harder to assess. 

The article I picked was “ No, The CDC Did Not Revise Down The Number Of COVID-19 Deaths” by Brianna Sacks of Buzzfeed. This article was posted at 3:51 PM ET of May 2nd. The article basically states that the CDC had posted that the total deaths related to COVID-19 were 37,308 on Friday, MAy 1st. However, as of May 2nd, the total number of deaths reported by the CDC are more than 64,000 (Sack 2020). The main reason this number went up was because the table that was in the refenced tweet by Tim Young only accounted for Feb. 1st to April 25th.  The new number not only was the most recent and comprehensive but also accounted for the autopsy results that found COVID-19 as the reason for the death. Jumping to conclusions like this can be detrimental to the public especially when the public is anxious to return to their normal lives.

Article here: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/coronavirus-death-toll-cdc-misinformation?origin=shp

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Hi this is Biorh.