Main Source Fact Checking: 

Claim 1: “As fear grips the individual, it often times mixes with other emotions triggered from the initial reaction. This can lead to even more uncharacteristic behavior.”  This was a claim made in the primary source about fear. This is important to face check because it is being used to justify the reason why people are being fearful.
Original Source:
Stein, S. J., & Book, H. E. (2011). The EQ edge: Emotional intelligence and your success. John Wiley & Sons.

Claim 2: “Information also becomes valuable as people find comfort in common places like Facebook, Twitter,and Instagram.” This claim was made to justify why people made why society follows trends on social media. It is important to fact check to make sure the understanding fits within the context of the article.
Original Source: 
Phua, J., Jin, S. V., & Kim, J. J. (2017). Gratifications of using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat to follow brands: The moderating effect of social comparison, trust, tie strength, and network homophily on brand identification, brand engagement, brand commitment, and membership intention. Telematics and Informatics, 34(1), 412-424.

Claim 3: “...and not being able to touch or see loved ones is something that will hurt all of us.” This claim was made in the article in reference to social distancing. It is important to fact check because it generalizes the majority of people affected by mandatory self quarantining.
Original Source:
Bollen, J., Gonçalves, B., Ruan, G., & Mao, H. (2011). Happiness is assortative in online social networks. Artificial life, 17(3), 237-251.

Claim 4: “You know we all have this cognitive basis and what’s salient to us is what we’re seeing in the news and what we’re seeing in social media,”This claim was made in the article about the cognitive bias for humans that we experience in our media. This is necessary to face check due to it being used to explain the behaviours and motives behind hoarding.
Original Source: 
Foster, G. A. (2016). Consuming the Apocalypse, Marketing Bunker Materiality. Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 33(4), 285–302. doi: 10.1080/10509208.2016.1144017

Claim 5: “Focusing on helping others and what you can do to be helpful during this situation, because a lot of times when we are feeling out of control and anxious, focusing on other people really helps us...” This claim was made in the article to recommend how to cope with our new environment during the virus. It’s important to fact check this due the claim being suggested to the audience of the article as a coping method during these difficult times.
Original Source:
Schwartz, C. E., Keyl, P. M., Marcum, J. P., & Bode, R. (2009). Helping others shows differential benefits on health and well-being for male and female teens. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10(4), 431-448.

Evaluating the "Over Consumers" or Hoarders during the COVID-19 Pandemic 

Throughout the recent history of the past few decades, there have been many instances where humans believed that we were on the verge of an apocalypse. In our recent world today, a  viral global pandemic has overturned the entire earth: COVID-19. During these numerous potential crises, it has not been uncommon to find individuals stockpiling and hoarding certain supplies. In relation to this phenomenon, an article published by North Central, a news website dedicated to delivering accurate real time news, discussed the drastic increase of sales for certain essential products: toilet paper, household cleaners, and certain food items. This article discusses the over consuming of certain products from people preparing for their prolonged stay at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

An article written by Zoe Williams, published by The Guardian, discusses her personal experience with her mother as a regular citizen hoarding supplies. Williams describes that throughout her life, her mother would stockpile and hoard food for the adverse events that were happening in the world at the time: the threat of WWII after 9/11, the possibility of nuclear warfare, and Y2K. She characterizes that her mother’s hoarding behaviour was due to increased paranoia for what was occuring in the world at the time. In reference to the main issue, described in the article published by Nother Central, the viewpoint of William's article is to describe the perspective of the individuals who are deciding that they need to hoard certain household products during the COVID-19 pandemic. William’s offers certain personal influences about why her mother felt the need to hoard supplies through discussing her life to support the main idea of the article published by North Central: certain products are being hoarded or over consumed by individuals during the pandemic. 

The individuals in this introduced perspective, as discussed previously, have the goals of hoarding supplies due to the anxiety and social pressure aspect of those who set the standard for disaster preparation. This is further evaluated in the article, Consuming the Apocalypse, Marketing Bunker Materiality, published in the journal Quarterly Review of Film and Video. The author Gwendolyn Foster makes the claim that the current apocalyptic mindset and the wide wage gap between socioeconomic groups both contribute to the increased sales in guns and other certain necessary products. Foster supports this claim by analyzing the culture presented in the media today about doomsday preparation through white redneck culture in shows like Duck Dynasty.

The argument is further supported by addressing that the white redneck culture, in which doomsday preparing is common, has created a romanization of white individuals of higher socioeconomic standing and the paranoia associated with the end of the world. The normalizing of this kind of culture promotes doomsday preparing or hoarding of certain materials through the presentation of this specific culture in the media. This analysis of Consuming the Apocalypse, Marketing Bunker Materiality in reference to the article presented in North Central about individuals hoarding supplies shows supporting sociocultural and media factors for those individuals who believe they need to hoard in order to survive the pandemic.

In an article published by GoodHousekeeping.com, a popular website providing advice regarding everyday life, the author Stefani Sassos writes about what to buy for COVID-19 preparation. The article discusses certain food and household items to have a  sufficient supply of during the world wide pandemic. Providing a list of these household and food articles is helpful for those who are trying to prepare, but can provide external conflict and anxiety for those attempting to hoard or stockpile items. Providing lists of items on a popular website can cause many groups of hoarders to stockpile too much of one certain environment, creating a deficit for the majority of the rest of the individuals. Thus, creating more reasoning to why individuals may feel the need to stockpile supplies during the current pandmeic. 
This perspective is important to include in the website because it's important to bring awareness and education to the individuals who are over consuming in an attempt to disaster prepare. This is important to have awareness of due to the chain reaction it causes due to its cultural influences on people. The more socially common it is for someone to hoard or stockpile during the pandemic, it creates a greater chance for a deficit of certain essential  products for the entirety of the community. Creating awareness of this perspective of people during the worldwide pandemic may help certain individuals limit their consuming and create a more balanced system for consumers.

References