Some Japanese people have worn surgical masks for another reason

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Since the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, everybody has worn a surgical mask.

Usually, we wear a surgical masks to prevent infection.

But some Japanese people have worn surgical masks for another reason that existed before the pandemic.

Surprisingly, they wear surgical masks in order to hide their faces.

Of course, it isn’t based on religious grounds.

They aren’t criminals on the run.

The strange habit among some people was picked up on the news before the pandemic.

Actually, I know such people.

Why do they hide their faces with a surgical masks?

According to the news, the number of Japanese people who don’t want anyone to see their faces has been increasing.

It is obviously too self-conscious, but they seem to be afraid of their minds being read too much because personality or various emotions can be depicted on the face.

So, nobody can see under their surgical masks.

Such excessive self-consciousness may be a kind of mental disorder, or it may be a modern-day sickness.

There didn’t use to be such a strange habit.

I think that is a distortion of modern Japanese society rather than just a personal problem.

The dark side of modern Japanese society may create the people who wear surgical masks to hide their faces.

I think that one of the causes is social media.

Social media was meant to make the world a morer diverse place for Japanese people.

However, social media encouraged peer pressure that is particular to modern Japanese society. That is really ironic.

So it is natural that the number of people who worry deeply about what other people think of them has been increasing.

For them, face-to-face communication must be mentally painful.

Wearing surgical masks may be a sign of serious stress.

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