This text is for questions 16 to 18.

    Hoax e-mail messages distribute false, often disturbing, information designed to trick recipients into passing the same note onto other E-mail users. On the surface, this does not sound like a terribly threatening or bothersome practice. However, hoaxes, and those who choose to distribute them can do real damage, both physical and mental.

    Each message sent from a user's e-mail account requires the expenditure of resources on the computer of origination. On every computer network it happens to pass through or into. Like a spam or virus, your mailbox can't be hoax free. Hoaxes are often sent by your friends, coworkers, family, and so on. This is the main reason why they are able to multiply and spread so easily over the world. Multiplied exponentially by constant forwarding and re-forwarding around the world, a single hoax message can result in huge overall energy drains. You, the end-user would experience this drain in the form of a slow Internet connection or low hard drive space on your PC or e-mail profile.

   Physical damage like this is a nuisance at best. However, hoaxes have a more sinister effect on computer users who receive them. Not only can hoaxes create personal anxiety and mass panic, but when received in quantity by a single user, they can cause complacency. A complacent attitude towards the mail arriving in an e-mail account on a regular basis could cause a user to stop watching for the true threats posed by e-mail messages. That could lead to personal disaster.

    In conclusion, the hoax has a real impact on physics and human psychology.

(Adopted from: https://www.itg.ias.edu/content/what-are-hoax-messages (January 31, 2019))

What is the text about?