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I鈥檓 not a public health educator, but I play one on social media. Maybe you do too. As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, many people have found themselves serving as armchair epidemiologists and pundits, tracking the virus, projecting the future, and browbeating people who refuse to stay home or wear masks.

The vast majority of social media memes I鈥檝e seen are terrific at validating the behavior of people who are already diligently masking and social distancing. But they are terrible at persuading skeptics to abide by public health precautions. says that people often lash out vitriolically when they perceive others as being insufficiently self-sacrificing, but she says that doing so triggers resistance. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 appreciate being told what to do by someone they don鈥檛 know,鈥� explains Simon-Thomas, science director of the University of California, Berkeley鈥檚 Greater Good Science Center.

Being on the receiving end of unsolicited feedback can make people feel more entrenched and righteous about their behavior, especially if the feedback has a shaming quality. 鈥淸T]rying to shame people into healthy behavior generally doesn鈥檛 work,鈥� , 鈥渁nd actually can make things worse.鈥�

Drawing on the advice of public health experts and my own expertise in , I offer the following advice for encouraging COVID-19 rebels to mask up:

What not to do

1. Don鈥檛 label or insult. If you call someone a 鈥淐ovidiot鈥� or a 鈥渟elfish racist,鈥� what are the odds they will engage in a period of deep reflection before giving you a Facebook hug, thanking you for enlightening them, and asking where they can purchase a sweatshop-free mask?  

Name-calling is highly antagonizing. It destroys trust, engenders hostility, and can make a person even less apt to wear a mask just to spite you. They may very well have racist beliefs that lead them to devalue the lives of Black and brown virus victims, but the minute you call them a racist, they will stop listening, and you will have achieved nothing.

2. Don鈥檛 be self-righteous, condescending, or judgmental. Like insults, casting blame or making moral judgments puts people on the defensive. It doesn鈥檛 matter that heeding public health directives is objectively better than not doing so, just like it doesn鈥檛 matter that bringing cloth bags to the grocery store is objectively better for the environment than not. If you are sanctimonious about your behavioral choices, people who don鈥檛 yet subscribe to them will be annoyed and disgusted, and they will not contemplate changing their ways.

In the early days of the pandemic, my Facebook feed was filled with stern reprimands of those who were considering wearing a mask to protect themselves. Mask-wearers, they said, were selfish, bad people who didn鈥檛 care that health care workers were facing an N-95 mask shortage. Even a bandanna sent the wrong message. Then, the evidence started stacking up: , and countries that required masks were flattening the curve faster than those that didn鈥檛. Now, social media is saturated with denunciations of Americans who refuse to wear a mask. Acknowledgement that such contradictions are confusing and frustrating can go a long way.

3. Don鈥檛 vilify or polarize. Though the virus is and some rural areas hard, this was not the case in the early days of the pandemic. It鈥檚 understandable that people whose suffering stems more from the economic and social impacts of the shutdown than from the virus would be more likely to rebel against public health prescriptions than those grieving the loss of loved ones.

Trump has and , leading many Republicans to believe that the proper way for Republicans in good standing to conduct themselves is to go maskless and demand that businesses reopen pronto. While many may have selfish motivations (the come to mind), others may be experiencing financial catastrophe as their small businesses or workplaces are shut down.

Still others may feel the sting of being considered 鈥渘onessential鈥� in a capitalist economy that measures human worth in terms of productive output. Regardless of their motivations, taking cues from the leaders of one鈥檚 party is.

Liberals, too, play into Trump鈥檚 hand by accusing COVID-19 deniers or skeptics of being 鈥淭rump death cult鈥� members. (Again, it doesn鈥檛 matter if it鈥檚 true鈥攚hat matters is the impact of the statement). When framed as 鈥渦s against them,鈥� Team Red is prompted to disregard mask advocates and take their cues from their fellow Republicans. 

This is an example of a polarizing post that springboards off the meme of 鈥淜arens鈥� (entitled White women who are passive-aggressively racist). It belittles and ridicules them and implies that anyone who doesn鈥檛 mask is either racist, pathetically fragile, or both. It also gratuitously polarizes the wearing of masks by creating an 鈥渦s鈥� (virtuous, anti-racist mask-wearers) versus 鈥渢hem鈥� (selfish, racist mask-resisters) dynamic. Such divisiveness hardens the battle lines that Trump has drawn and embitters opposing factions in ways that make the pandemic that much harder to overcome.

4. Don鈥檛 use hashtags. #maskon or #masks4all sound innocent enough, but that hashtags are polarizing. A hashtag is like a neon sign announcing, 鈥淭his is a highly controversial topic, and you must pick a side. If you pick the wrong side, I will hate you. If you pick the right side, then fellow members of your stupid backwards tribe will hate you.鈥� It鈥檚 lose-lose.

5. Don鈥檛 tell people you hope they will die. I think this one speaks for itself.

What to do instead

1. Use credible messengers. Epidemiologist Gary Slutkin is the founder of , an organization credited with reducing shootings in Chicago by 67% during its first year, in 2000. In addition to continued violence prevention, Cure Violence has launched a COVID-19 campaign, distributing masks and educational resources in communities of color.

According to Slutkin, public health educators have to be trusted and accepted in the communities where they work. If the target audience is conservatives, look for or create memes that feature Republicans wearing masks. Share the of North Dakota Gov. Doug Bergam tearing up as he urged people to wear masks to protect children with cancer and other vulnerable people.

Make a meme showing football player and COVID-19 survivor Tony Boselli .

2. Be Culturally Appropriate. Credible messengers should be culturally appropriate, too. For ethnically diverse communities, an inclusive meme like the one below by may be seen as beautiful and inspiring.

But if you鈥檙e trying to reach conservative Whites, a picture of someone who looks like them or a wearing a mask is likely going to be more relatable and, hence, more effective.

Another cultural vein to tap is patriotism or pride of place. A mask that says 鈥淐OVID: Don鈥檛 mess with Texas鈥� or a mask with a sports team logo or an American flag pattern will be as appealing to some people as a 鈥淏lack Lives Matter鈥� mask is to others. You want the person to think to themselves, 鈥淭he people wearing masks are my kind of people. They must have good reasons for masking. I should probably mask too.鈥�

3. Lean into people鈥檚 desire to protect their own. Protecting vulnerable members of one鈥檚 community is a natural human impulse. It is present, at least to some degree, in everyone. But sometimes it can be stamped out by countervailing desires, fears, disinformation, or polarizing rhetoric.

If someone feels that masking infringes their liberty, you can鈥檛 expect to convince them that masking does not infringe their liberty or that their liberty is of secondary importance to public health. What you can do is suggest that people like them, people who care about others, are people who make personal sacrifices, such as masking, to protect others.

The image above was created by for First Nations audiences who have a strong tradition of honoring elders. This is a terrific concept that could be replicated for many other ethnicities or groups: Who 飞辞耻濒诲苍鈥檛 want to protect their grandparents? (Answer: Someone who has been made to believe that doing so is a sign of weakness and subservience to liberal dogma).

4. Present clear information. Pulling the heartstrings is great, but there鈥檚 also a need for straightforward information presented in a non-argumentative manner. This explainer from the University of Kansas (red-state credibility bonus!) makes clear the value of mask-wearing and leaves it to the viewers to draw their own conclusions about whether they should mask up.

In addition to educating people about the efficacy of masking, one can also share information about the dangers of COVID-19. Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health professor Douglas Storey says that 鈥渢hreat salience鈥� is a key motivator: When people believe they are susceptible to an illness, and that the consequences are potentially severe, they are more likely to take precautions鈥攅specially if they see that the precautions are likely to be effective.

Share the story of the that opened and, even with two sick hairstylists, none of the 140 masked customers contracted the virus. The moral of the story is: Masks save lives鈥攜ay! We all want to reopen the economy, and masks help us do this.

Furthermore, Storey suggests giving people an out. Maybe they had good reason to be skeptical early on, but now that there鈥檚 more data about how dangerous this virus is, they鈥檙e invited to change their minds. Make it seem like changing one鈥檚 mind is an honorable thing to do, rather than shameful.

5. Follow up with empathy

If your social media post triggers questions or pushback, you have a golden opportunity to engage more deeply. Build empathy by acknowledging that masking is a burden and a sacrifice and asking what is hardest about it for them. Share what鈥檚 been hard for you as the pandemic drags on. If they have pre-existing health conditions, tell them you鈥檙e worried about their getting sick.

If they have questions, answer them straightforwardly. If you鈥檙e presenting data, say why you trust the source but don鈥檛 claim that it鈥檚 an 鈥渋ndisputable fact鈥� (even if it is). Acknowledge their concerns and then, rather than telling them what to do, tell them what you鈥檙e doing and why:

鈥� 鈥淵eah, wearing a mask is annoying and uncomfortable. I鈥檓 doing it anyway for the same reason I would want my surgeon to wear a mask: I truly believe it reduces the risk of infection.鈥�

鈥� 鈥淚t sounds like you really hate it when you feel like the government is telling you what to do. Do you feel the same way about private store owners requiring masks inside stores?鈥� Let them answer before asking a follow-up question such as, 鈥�Do you feel the same about a 鈥榥o shirt, no shoes, no service鈥� policy in a restaurant, or does that feel different to you?鈥�

鈥� 鈥淚 get what you鈥檙e saying about wanting to protect your liberty. I don鈥檛 want the government bossing me around for no good reason either. But when it comes to things that protect me and others鈥攖hings like speed limits or requiring restaurants to cook chicken to a certain temperature so I don鈥檛 get food poisoning鈥擨鈥檓 OK with it. With masking, I鈥檓 willing to sacrifice a little bit of my freedom to protect people like my mom who could die if she caught this.鈥�

鈥� 鈥淚t sounds like you鈥檙e worried that face masks are unhealthy and won鈥檛 let you breathe freely. If I thought masks were dangerous, I probably would think twice about wearing one, too. What do you think about trying a ? It鈥檚 not as protective, but it won鈥檛 impede your breathing.鈥�

鈥� 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of different information floating around about how effective masks are. What really swayed me was when I started hearing from the nurses saying they鈥檙e so exhausted and traumatized trying to take care of all of these COVID patients and pleading with the rest of us to wear masks. They鈥檙e like, 鈥榃e mask for you, please mask for us,鈥� and I really want to honor their incredibly hard and dangerous work. It must be so hard for them to wear those masks for hours and hours, so I figure they would only do it if it鈥檚 truly protective.鈥�

鈥� 鈥淚 know what you鈥檙e saying. It鈥檚 frustrating when the public health people give conflicting information. I wasn鈥檛 sure, at first, about how effective masking is, but , the more I鈥檝e come to feel that it鈥檚 crucial to ending this pandemic so we can go back to normal sooner rather than later.鈥�

Self-Compassion is Key

Extend yourself some empathy too. The pandemic is incredibly stressful, the economy is in free fall, and the election of our lifetime looms. It鈥檚 natural to feel irritable toward people whose reckless behavioral and political choices endanger us and the people we love. It鈥檚 understandable to lack the patience to explain what seems very clear to people who seem willfully blind. Lashing out offers a momentary feeling of gratification and, perhaps, the illusion of having control over a crisis people feel helpless to solve.

If you don鈥檛 have the energy right now to engage constructively with COVID-19 rebels, you can sit this one out and take care of yourself. If you do choose to engage, keep in mind these wise words from Malcolm X: 鈥淒on鈥檛 be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn鈥檛 do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn鈥檛 know what you know today.鈥�

Editor’s note: This article was updated on December 30, 2020, to remove a broken link to a chart race infographic that is no longer available online.