Perhaps it’s why I still have my hair.
As I watched a “major” security issue1 unfold a few years ago, I read the media reports seeming to claim the end of the world (or at least the internet) was upon us. I kept feeling like I was supposed to be panicking.
But I didn’t.
And neither the world nor the internet ended.
It’s not in my nature to panic. That’s just the kinda guy that I am. Panic may occasionally be called for, but usually it does more harm than good.
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I rarely panic, and neither should you
News stories regarding technology are often framed in the worst possible “world ending” way in order to get you to click through to view articles and their accompanying ads. While some items are genuinely important, it’s better to bring skepticism to bear first. Decisions made out of panic are rarely the right ones.
Yes, it was serious, but…
The issue was serious, don’t get me wrong. The potential for havoc was exceptionally high. In fact, I’ll even say we dodged a bullet.
But dodge it we did.
For this particular issue, server administrators had reason to be deeply concerned. Their systems were vulnerable, and the moment the news broke, their systems needed to be fixed ASAP.
As the owner of an affected server at the time, I did due diligence to ensure the servers under my control were not affected. It wasn’t panic by any means, but more of a simple “better look at this right away” kind of prioritization.
For everyone else, absolutely everything was out of your control. Aside from caution when moving forward after the bug had been publicized, there was absolutely nothing the average consumer could do. If there was damage, it had likely already been done.
More importantly, it appears that there wasn’t a lot of damage done. Servers were fixed quickly, and life moved on.
Panic and sensationalism feed the press
I use the term “press” very loosely here. At the time, you could find proclamations on the issue everywhere from individual blogs to major news media outlets.
And it all comes back to clicks.
When the story sounds sensational, more people will click through to read it. That page can then offer more eyeballs to the advertisers that sponsor it. As a result, there’s a powerful incentive to make headlines as sensational as possible, sometimes to the extreme.
It’s called “clickbait,” and nothing generates clicks like feigned end-of-the-world panic.
The result is that an exceptional amount of news reporting on just about any story needs to be viewed very, very skeptically. There are great, trustworthy sources out there. It’s just difficult to pick them out from all the noise.
Panic and sensationalism lead to bad decisions
In technology, and particular in personal computing and the internet, two themes appear consistently:
- Panic leads to a sense of extreme urgency.
- Extreme urgency leads to bad decisions.
I have seen people make some terrible decisions — like unnecessarily reformatting or even discarding computers, closing online accounts, and even stepping away from online activities completely — in a panicked and often ineffective response to some seemingly imminent threat.
There can be imminent and dangerous threats. But I have yet to see one that is so serious that you couldn’t take some time to calmly and rationally consider the ramifications.
Do this
My advice? Be aware, but be skeptical.
Realize that many “news” and other information-delivery vehicles have an incentive to make things seem worse than they may be, or perhaps to overstate the risk in one area based on the genuine risk in another.
It’s unfortunate, because the press has cried wolf so many times that we’re more likely to pass over a true attention-worthy story when one comes up.
When you see a story that seems serious and you’re wondering how it affects you, pause. Take a breath. Wait until the dust settles, or check in with your less panic-stricken and knowledgeable friends.
You may need to take action, but as with anything, you need to take the right action.
And reactions made out of panic are rarely right.
Here’s an action that’ll help: Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
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Footnotes & References
1: HeartBleed.
Hi Leo-
I could not agree with you more. Heartbleed got the attention of the media and people who follow tech, but I don’t know that it got the attention of the general “uninformed” public the way the end of life for XP did.
I am the “system admin” for my elderly parent’s XP computer. I’ve known about the EOL for XP for years. Well, when that day came I got panicked emails about how the news said there computer was no good and now useless, etc etc. Local news-my opinion shall remain unsaid. I think the XP EOL had a greater penetration into the consciousness of the non-tech world than Heartbleed did, only based on the sensationalized stories done by TV news.
And yes, I’m trying to find a way to move them, in a relatively painless manner, from XP and Outlook Express to 7 and Windows Mail. For 80-somethings, any change is a big change.
Leo recommends ClassicShell to tame Windows 8 and make it behave like Windows 7. I’ve used ClassicShell since XP to have the start menu behave more like Windows 98. You might want to install something like that to have an XP or earlier type start menu to make things a little easier.
http://askleo.com/classic_shell_regain_your_start_menu_in_windows_8_and_much_more/
I used to like ZD Net, but lately their email newsletters have become little more than an apocalyptic click bait website.
There are a number of formerly prestigious and reputable sites that have lost all credibility with me for that very reason.
Because you don’t panic you have great articles that help your readers, not making their panic worse.
Interestingly there are comments on this article from 2014, and now in 2022 we are still here, still reading AskLeo, and hopefully not panicking!
Please keep up the good work.
Panic is timeless.
You have a picture at the top of this article of a red alert light with the words “Don’t Panic” on it.
I say — hasn’t Douglas Adams trademarked that phrase…?
I don’t believe so, but if he did it would be on the cover of a book (“The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”), not a button.
Panic? What’s that? Sometimes I don’t know if I’ve got the “patience of Job” or if I’m “just too dumb to know when I’m licked”
When I got into this business 35 years ago I started keeping my hair cut SHORT – and now that I’ve retired (mostly) at 70, I still have my hair!!