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Social Psychology and Society
2025. Vol. 16, no. 4, 204–210
doi:10.17759/sps.2025160412
ISSN: 2221-1527 / 2311-7052 (online)

Can the state cure from fakes? On the question of the boundaries of care and control under conditions of digital anxiety*

 
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Abstract

In the review of the monograph by O.S. Deyneka and A.A. Maksimenko “A Vaccine against Infodemic, or the Psychological State of Society during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” an attempt is made to reconceptualize the phenomenon of the infodemic as a persistent challenge to public common sense, mental well-being, and social stability. The reviewer analyzes the authors’ proposed metaphor of informational vaccination as a conceptual framework for a discussion on the boundaries of freedom, citizens’ rights, and the responsibilities of the state in the digital age. Through comparison with data on the growth of psychotropic drug consumption, a conclusion is drawn about the long-term consequences of informational overstrain. Special attention is paid to the ethical and psychological dilemmas arising in attempts to protect mass consciousness from fakes, anxiety-inducing narratives, and media manipulations.

General Information

* Review of the monograph by O.S. Deyneka and A.A. Maksimenko “A Vaccine against Infodemic, or the Psychological State of Society during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Kostroma: ANO “Center for Social Initiatives,” 2024. 380 pp.

Keywords: infodemic, psychological (mental) health, informational hygiene, fakes, media trauma, media consumption, doomscrolling, cyberchondria

Journal rubric: Critique and Bibliography

Article type: review

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2025160412

Received 24.09.2025

Revised 24.09.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Reshetnikov, M.M. (2025). Can the state cure from fakes? On the question of the boundaries of care and control under conditions of digital anxiety. Social Psychology and Society, 16(4), 204–210. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/sps.2025160412

© Reshetnikov M.M., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

References

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  2. Дейнека, О.С., Максименко, А.А. (2024). Вакцина от инфодемии, или психологическое состояние общества на фоне пандемии, вызванной COVID-19. Кострома: АНО «Центр социальных инициатив».
    Deyneka, O.S., Maksimenko, A.A. (2024). A Vaccine against Infodemic, or the Psychological State of Society during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Kostroma: ANO “Center for Social Initiatives.” (In Russ.).
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  8. Su, Y., Borah, P., Xiao, X. (2022). Understanding the “infodemic”: social media news use, homogeneous online discussion, self-perceived media literacy and misperceptions about COVID-19. Online Information Review, 46(7), 1353–1372. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-06-2021-0305
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Information About the Authors

Mikhail M. Reshetnikov, Doctor of Psychology, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Professor, Rector, East European Psychoanalytical Institute, St.Petersburg, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4339-3206, e-mail: veip@yandex.ru

Conflict of interest

The author declare no conflict of interest.

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