This morning, the Year 7 students at the school I work at had their vaccinations, which is a lot like a mini apocalypse for them - vomiting, fainting, and panicking are the order of the day. They have had them before, but that doesn't stop the butterflies, and something I think is likely a mass psychogenic illness (MSP): If one kid faints, others begin to feel dizzy themselves. One kid vomits, the other starts to feel queasy - a psychological and physiological chain reaction.

It's kinda lovely, really. It shows us how we're wired for empathy. When we see someone in distress, we mirror it unconciously - our breathing can increase, our emotions heighten. In groups, like school students, it's worse. The trigger might be psychological, but the physical reaction is absolutely real.

I was chatting to one girl in line who was rather irritated at me when I tried to console her. I get it. Some fears - like of needles - you can't talk down, and I'm sure her parents had already tried this morning. What I was trying to say was that it was a little bit about the stories we tell ourselves. Repeat it often enough, and you start to believe it. Oh - side note, I'm not here to debate vaccinations, so don't bother in the comments please.

Repeated stories are powerful. Like this morning, having barely had any sleep. At 5 am the tiredness feels unsurmountable. But telling myself I've had enough sleep helps. There are studies that confirm this - believing you've had enough sleep can make all the difference. It's a trick that works for me.

A few years ago fears of a chemical leak at Heathrow airport sparked fear, causing 21 people to be struck with a wave of illness. There wasn't a leak. It was a case of MSP where we experience real symptoms triggered by shared anxiety.

The antidote to such collective distress is fast, clear and factual communication. Knowing the facts help calm uncertainty and prevents reactions from spreading. We need to ask ourselves whether we're feeling unsettled because we've been lied to, or if we're telling ourselves stories based on fantasy and emotion over fact.

It's not always our fault. We are constantly bombarded by false information - we're collectively hysterical. Yet in the absence of authorititive leaders monitoring, controlling or quashing false information that arises in places like social media (because there's a tipping point toward a nanny state that must also be monitored), it is up to the individual - that's YOU - to check the facts for themselves or the most obvious solution, have the strength to switch off the machines.

It's why I'm leaning toward the fact it's a good idea that Australia is regulating social media for under 16's. They just don't have the media intelligence to know what's manipulating them. It's the same as protecting them from drugs. For the record, I still think it's an overreach and I dont think it'll work, but something has to be done.

Thing is, digital mass hysteria can work for governments and other institutions or groups that stand to benefit from the cure to fear and loathing. We have to be pretty savvy to figure out what's truth and what's manipulation or half truth, and why the story's being told this way.

False claims spread so fast and stick so quickly that we often don't even realise we've fallen for it. For example, the identity of a knife attacker in Bondi being Muslim, fuelling racial unrest and feeding into anti-immigration protests. Even my husband fell for it the other day, outraged about a proposed curfew by the Labour government which would have anyone over sixty unable to drive between 10 pm and 6 am. It wasn't true, but it's that kind of thing that has people want to change who they're voting for.

How to slow digital mass hysteria then, when we know it's damaging? Social media giants like TikTok certainly don't meet their own standards for tackling bullshit, and you can fact check this - some tagged posts were removed, whilst others remained untouched. I've flagged the most sexist, demeaning, violent, racist shit and it comes back with 'we couldn't see anything wrong'. Who is doing the fact checking? Is it even possible? And is it overreach to ask for censorship on these platforms, or is transparency necessary to calm the symptoms of disinformation? A proposed misinformation bill, whilst well intended, was refused on the grounds of censorship. It's a fine line we tread - propaganda, or control by other means.

I'd like to think it should entirely rest with the consumer. It's us that should be doing the fact checking. But as the internet fills with AI talking to itself, trolls and bots working overtime to support regimes or pull them apart, and algorithms pushing outrage for clicks, it’s becoming trickier to know what’s real, and if you're not particular media savvy and/or are guided by sensationalism, it's probably unfair to blame us for falling for the narratives and the agenda being promoted.

Anyway, it's 3 pm and I'm feeling faint - twenty minutes before I go home, have a cup of tea, and scroll the news on Facebook.