When you give a news intervw, there is never time to say all you have thought of. I had just enough time to scribble notes for my @BBCNews interview w/ @katesilverton on #COVID_19uk anxiety. Here’s what they looked like. Here’s a brief thread on what I didn’t hv time to say. 
2. The key problem is everybody is scared. Terrified. Not just of catching #Covid , but of dying, of uncertainty, of losing yr job, firing yr staff, feeding yr kids, not seeing your parents. Fear is rampant. The solution is to REDUCE ANXIETY. Help people know how to. Model it.
3. I think the @UKgovcomms should have a behavioural scientist at every daily #Covid briefing telling people how to reduce anxiety, how to generate emotional calm & safety, how to spread it. Right now, the briefings boost fear. The comfort is as key as the scary info.
4. All organisations should be tasked w/ reducing pressure. Schools could stop pressuring parents for homework. The Govt could make universal credit available now, not in 5 weeks. Advice could be sent to all businesses on emotional support of staff.
5. The media could model how to reduce anxiety. Newscasters could breathe deeply & slowly out several times in a broadcast. They could explain what they are doing and why. Then everyone sees it happening everywhere. If they feel silly, get over it. People need help & leadership.
6. The news broadcasts cd make sure they include in every broadcast a story of how someone is reducing anxiety. Not as a cute, end of broadcast story. But as a serious story. The media need to take responsibility about how they are make this worse, feeding fear, & counter that.
7. We cd all be told our responsibility is not just to stay inside, but that our responsibility is to understand how our personal anxiety systems work. And the responsibility to take steps in calming them. People cd be given suggestions of how to do that. Not instructions. Help.
8. We could also be told it is our responsibility to spread calm, connection & kindness. As protection. As medicine. As our civic duty. That’s how social media can help right now. If the govt doesn’t “require” that, then anyone can take that responsibility on themselves.
9. When people are scared, the prefrontal cortex of their brain goes off-line. They can’t think. They do dumb things. So we need to REDUCE FEAR so that people can think better. Very simple things will help: laughter, breathe, comfy clothes, stories of connection & kindness.
10. #Covid is a perfect storm of fear. Our familiar world fell apart in days. The future is uncertain, personally & societally. We can’t see t threat. We can’t hug for reassurance. We can’t even self-soothe by touchng our face. Fear is ramped up. We need to start by reducng fear.
11/end. Whatever you can do to reduce fear, boost t strength of yr internal teddy bear, spread connection & kindness on social media will help. That’s as much a civic contribution as is staying inside. That helps fight the many risks posed by #Covid. Thanks all. Over to you. 😊
