Weekly Dwell
Weekly Dwell; the thought of the weekly, elaborated on slightly.
The idea of needing both public policies and personal responsibility in place to lead to better outcomes has been a recurring theme through much of public health and public policy, and especially prominent during the pandemic. Policies won't work if people don't feel compelled to follow them; and alternatively people are less likely to feel compelled to (or know how to collectively) make any changes if there aren't any guidelines in place to follow.
While reading a manuscript for work this week, I came across an interesting example of this that is ubiquitous today. When cars first entered the market and took to the open road, there wasn't anything in place guiding how to drive safely - no seatbelts, airbags, or other personal safety devices. Even when seat belts were introduced, people weren't very compelled to use them, not knowing exactly how it would affect them, and car companies were not inclined to include them due to cost. Without policies requiring the seat belts nor the information regarding why to use them, the roads were a bit of a free for all, with lots of unsafe drivers and situations. But once the combination of seat belt policy and education about what could happen if you don't wear a seat belt, and car companies finding ways to offer it as a "feature" to their cars rather than a hinderance, everything came together to promote folks to wear seat belts.
Now certainly there are still those that do not wear a seat belt, despite all the education, policy, and feature being available, and that's always the level of error that is taken into consideration for each study. But by and large, people know why seat belts are important and are most likely to wear them - if not for themselves, at least for the potential fine they might receive if caught not wearing one in particular states.
Applying this combination of education, policy, and feature to social media and mis/disinformation, we haven't quite found the secret recipe that brings both people and companies together to work against it, but I'd bet that all of these factors will play an important role together.