Why bed bug hysteria feels inescapable online

Twice a year, influencers fill social media feeds with their FOMO-inducing, aspirational hobnobbing at Paris Fashion Week. But this year, for perhaps the first time, many digital onlookers were relieved they weren't invited.

That's because bed bugs crashed the party and were papped on the city's public transit, at movie theaters, and at the Charles de Gaulle airport. 

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And while the infestation may have made international news at any other time of the year, it's the influx of influencers that made bed bugs a For You Page favorite. It feels like these parasitic bugs are everywherewe go in the digital world, and that has made some people feel like bed bugs are just as ubiquitous in the physical world, too. 

Fashion week's social media frenzy

After a handful of initial videos of bed bugs crawling on public transit made waves, TikTokkers in Paris began sharing stories of discovering the bugs and their bites, while those who weren't directly affected made content about their fears of discovering them. 

The timing couldn't have been more perfect: the world's most-followed fashionistas descended on one of the world's most fashionable cities, tasked with creating as much content as possible for a single, special week. And because that week included bed bugs, they made content about the little vermin, too.

Digital onlookers were either disgusted or reveled in a particular strain of schadenfreude. On X (formerly Twitter), a quote from Deputy Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Gregoire that categorized the rise in bed bugs as “widespread" and warned that “no one is safe" was widely circulated.

Then came the bandwagon. Creators from all over the world hopped online to share their own harrowing experiences with bed bugs, or joke about the invasive insects living it up in the city of love.

When the COVID-19 pandemic initially hit in March 2020, TikTok had yet to become a household name. Now both the app and short-form video in general dominate much of our online experience, enabling users to consume more content with less context. And that has helped anxiety over Paris's infestation spread online as quickly as bed bugs themselves.

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The false reality of mass hysteria

Hysteria is a rare psychological phenomenon where one person's sudden atypical behavior (fainting, screaming) is replicated involuntarily by those in proximity to them. Historically, that proximity has been physical, but recent outbreaks appear to have been caused by digital proximity.

In the fall months of 2022, mass fainting among 227 children across six middle schools in four Mexican states was attributed to a form of mass hysteria spread over the internet. Insiderreported that researchers credited "the internet, coupled with the psychological and developmental disturbance of the pandemic, was the agent of transmission for a mass hysteria episode" among the children in Mexico.

SEE ALSO: 4 ways to help girls thrive online

In 2021, an epidemic of ticswas observed in teen girls in the UK, before spreading to several other countries. The phenomenon is thought to have been incited by TikTok videos the girls watched about people with tics related to their Tourette's syndrome.

Both outbreaks affected children or teens, but adults aren't immune to similar behavior (think about how itchy your head can get once someone mentions lice in conversation).

Humans are suggestible, and a few dozen TikToks telling you that the bed bug epidemic is imminent are bound to make you believe that's the truth.

Taking the bite out of bedbug anxiety

As influencers returned to their home countries from Paris Fashion Week, folks online shared their anxiety about bed bugs hitchhiking a ride. And those worries are not unfounded: TikToks sprang up soon after showing bed bugs riding along with passengers on London's Victoria Line. A fellow reporter at Mashable who lives off the line shared earlier this week that they lie in bed at night and think about these bloodsuckers.

The internet is crawling with misinformation about bed bugs, which leads to increased anxiety. How prevalent are they? Can you see them? Do they spread disease? How do they travel?

Plus, folks from all over have felt the need to jump into the conversation to share their own experience with bedbugs and the psychological toll they wreaked. All these elements combine to create a maelstrom of anxiety.

Sometimes worrying feels good, like a strange form of productivity — as if worrying about something now will prepare you for the future. But bed bugs exist in every major city, and always have. Arming yourself with knowledge about them is the best way to feel prepared to take them on. For example, this video from Mark Rober is a bit stomach-turning but incredibly informative, covering how bedbugs survive and what actually works when trying to get rid of them.

If you can move away from the digital hysteria and find rational sources rooted in science, you'll have a fighting chance of escaping the frenzy of the For You Page.