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Comment by awsthro00945 | Hacker News Reader

I've been seeing this a lot amongst anti-mask arguments. Antimaskers unironically equate wearing a mask to some type of life-altering, oppressive action. It's absurd.

Amongst all of our social responsibilities as human being, wearing a mask is probably the easiest, most bare-minimum thing imaginable, right up there with "don't litter". And just like I don't respect people who litter, I don't at all respect people who don't wear masks in crowded places.

edit: wowfunhappy deleted their comment, but previously it said that the reason they don't wear a mask is because "it fogs up my glasses and is hot and sweaty", and went on to say that such hardships "affect [them] psychologically". This is exactly what I'm referring to in the first sentence of my comment. Absurdity.

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The damn thing fogs up my classes when it's cold, and is hot and sweaty when it's warm. When I speak, I frequently have to repeat myself, and I can't casually take a sip of water or eat a snack.

And while this part pertains more to other people wearing masks—I honestly feel like universal masking affects me psychologically. I have a huge amount of trouble recognizing people's faces when their masks are on—I didn't even recognize my sister when I ran into her on the subway—and I'm not able to read anyone's expressions.

I'm not an anti-masker, and I wore one diligently throughout 2020 and early 2021, but I'm just not willing to do it forever! Wearing a mask is by no means torturous, but I really do think it is life-altering. Similar to social distancing, masks change every single interaction I have with others.

I'm aware that masks protect others in addition to myself, but where does my responsibility end? I wear a mask on public transit, and I'll wear a mask any time someone asks me to put one on. But I'm not going to wear one otherwise, and I'm significantly less likely to go into a store if there's a sign on the front that masks are required. I think I should be able to make that choice, and other people can make the opposite choice.

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Edit: Re your edit, sorry about that, I actually deleted the above comment from downthread in order to post it here instead, and our actions seem to have crossed.

> The damn thing fogs up my glasses when it's cold

Check the nose clip of your mask. Fogging your glasses might mean it's not sealing correctly around the nose, so that the hot humid air from your breath is being directed upwards towards the interior of your glasses, and also allowing unfiltered outside air inside the mask when you inhale.

Yeah, believe me I've tried this. :(

Last winter, I even bought a mask from https://zerofogmask.com/?v=7516fd43adaa, which you heat up with a hair drier before wearing for the first time so it molds to the shape of your face. It admittedly worked better than a normal mask, but only partially and only for a few uses, which wasn't economical at $20 each. Plus, it was particularly uncomfortable.

When I was at Mayo Clinic, one of the eye doctors put tape at the top of my mask to seal it. He did the same to his because he wore glasses. This prevents fogging up glasses (or eye exam equipment).

I'd suggest using paper tape for this because the skin around the eyes is very delicate and regular medical tape is a bitch to get off. They used medical tape, and I felt like it was ripping my lower eyelids off when I removed it!

I wear safety glasses and a mask at work. I pull my mask up a little so that I can catch the edge of it between my nose and the glasses. I haven't had any issues with fogging.

I did some research on this last winter, when I was literally struggling to go outside—I walked straight into a lamp post at one point! I'm not going to be able to find the article now, but what I read it's largely dependent on the shape of your nose and face. I seem to have lost the lottery.

I can accept that there may be a continuum of taste in terms of how onerous wearing a mask is. But I don't really know how it can be that bad when my six year old managed it all year last year for school.

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