Face Masks

I hate face masks. Not just because of the exaggerated claims that it represents the main line of protection against the COVID virus (you can still get COVID if you were a mask!) or enormous the discomfort of breathing your own stale exhalations for hours (have you been on a 10-hour flight without taking your mask off?). No, the main reason to hate the masks is how it downgrades one of the most important things about human interaction: facial expressions.

I am surprised that this has not been more widely discussed amid all the concerns about COVID and social interactions. “Social distancing” and isolation are not the only repercussions that COVID is having on how we interact as humans.  Interacting with someone with a facemark is simply not the same as interacting with someone without.

Facial expressions are an inherent and important part of any conversation, and a partially covered face limits the conversation and opens up for misunderstandings (and this not counting the rather trivial fact that it is more difficult to hear what a person with a covered mouth is saying). Although the eyes are the most important part of the face, it does not take away that we, as humans, are unconsciously trained to interpret any small clues in a face: a widening or wrinkling nose; a half-smile or a cheek wrinkle; pursed lips or elvis lips. These and other micro-facial expressions become hidden when we interact, and contribute to limit trust.

You simply cannot get to know a person whose face is partially covered.

As society has slowly begun to open, our interactions are increasingly among mask-wearing people. In a shop one can understand it, although it adds another distance to the superficial interaction that could always benefit from a friendly expression. I reckon that common human politeness has suffered from the pandemic…

However, the situation is worse in social settings, and I have frankly little patience for having a conversation with a person whose face remains covered. It has happened to me in the office, where I have been at meetings where I take off my mask to the confused and sometimes slight discomfort of the others (I keep distance off course). Sometimes people also take off their masks, but at least as often they keep them on for a conversation that in my view is grossly distorted ensues. I am giving more away than I am receiving, and I can often hardly hide my annoyance, which is embarrassingly revealed by my uncovered face.

I don’t want to sound as if I am completely against masks: of course they limit the spread and provide comfort for many people. However, masks are not a panacea; they are at best a limited first line of defence against the COVID scourge and at worst a false sense of protection - a placebo against fear. Just like any other choice to protect against the virus wearing masks has consequences in how we interact as humans. Some people may judge them of limited value, but for me a human face represents an infinite world of details that has been another victim of this pandemic.