What's the point of a face mask, anyway?

What's the point of wearing a face mask is a question the people all over the world of been asking themselves these past few months. Traditionally, the point of wearing a face mask is to protect yourself from dirt, pollen, dust, bacteria or viruses, right? Doctors and nurses in hospitals, dentists, lab workers, construction workers and all sorts of other professionals have been wearing masks for ages. You can see people with allergies and hayfever who wear masks when they go out into the great outdoors during allergy season. But now during the pandemic, everyone is saying that the point of a mask is not actually to protect yourself, but to protect those around you.