In the Before Time, the argument was that society was already too clean and that society's need to disinfect everything was actually weakening our immune system; and that we needed to (within reason; no one was saying we needed to bathe in raw sewage or anything like that) have a bit more dirt in our life.
If that is true, I can't imagine that the even greater levels of disinfecting society is doing will have a positive effect on our immune system. But it makes P&G happy because it lets them sell more disinfectants, and it makes Pfizer happy because they can sell more vaccines and medications to compensate for our weakened immune systems.
Not weakened, untrained. The idea is that a child, not allowed to play in the mud and get the occasional bout of something like impetigo, never gets exposed to the various "types" of foreign invaders an average human experiences, from harmless to dangerous. As a result, the body never learns what's genuinely a threat and goes DEFCON 1 as soon as it encounters novel but harmless stimuli, resulting in allergies that are in some cases fatal.
Yes, I think there is something behind that, given all the allergies and non-viral-origin immune problems people of the younger generations seem to have more of nowadays. Not to mention those allergies that are known to be caused by lack of exposure to the thing (like peanuts, recently). We used to play out in the dirt and make mud pies (and see if we could trick any boys that happened to be around into eating them), get our knees skinned, and all kinds of stuff, but I guess kids started staying indoors more after the 90s.
Same. I've never particularly liked cleaning, so I always used "I'm just trying to keep my immune system strong" as a rationalization for why I don't. The sole exception being I do sanitize kitchen surfaces where I've handled raw meat.
In the Before Time, the argument was that society was already too clean and that society's need to disinfect everything was actually weakening our immune system; and that we needed to (within reason; no one was saying we needed to bathe in raw sewage or anything like that) have a bit more dirt in our life.
If that is true, I can't imagine that the even greater levels of disinfecting society is doing will have a positive effect on our immune system. But it makes P&G happy because it lets them sell more disinfectants, and it makes Pfizer happy because they can sell more vaccines and medications to compensate for our weakened immune systems.
Not weakened, untrained. The idea is that a child, not allowed to play in the mud and get the occasional bout of something like impetigo, never gets exposed to the various "types" of foreign invaders an average human experiences, from harmless to dangerous. As a result, the body never learns what's genuinely a threat and goes DEFCON 1 as soon as it encounters novel but harmless stimuli, resulting in allergies that are in some cases fatal.
Yes, I think there is something behind that, given all the allergies and non-viral-origin immune problems people of the younger generations seem to have more of nowadays. Not to mention those allergies that are known to be caused by lack of exposure to the thing (like peanuts, recently). We used to play out in the dirt and make mud pies (and see if we could trick any boys that happened to be around into eating them), get our knees skinned, and all kinds of stuff, but I guess kids started staying indoors more after the 90s.
Taking pills every day used to be for old people.
Look, maybe I had pica and liked eating them.
I've changed nothing and still adhere to the old ways. My offspring will be gods among men...
Same. I've never particularly liked cleaning, so I always used "I'm just trying to keep my immune system strong" as a rationalization for why I don't. The sole exception being I do sanitize kitchen surfaces where I've handled raw meat.