Long gone are the days of people getting most of their news from a local TV station, their local newspaper or the national newscast from one of the networks. Increasingly, people turn to social media for news and information. Facebook leads with 36% of social media consumers using the social media giant for consuming news. Instagram news consumers were 11% of the social media population. Twitter was statistically tied at 12%. YouTube had 21% of social media users looking at news on the popular video site. WhatsApp had 16%. This is so even though, according to reports from Gallup and the Knight Foundation, Americans believe that 65 percent of news on social media is made up or can’t be verified as accurate.
So increasing numbers of people are relying for their news and information on sources that they view as increasingly unreliable. Besides being just goofy, this has serious implications for our health and wellness too.
A recent study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute looked at the quality of cancer treatment information available on social media and the results were not encouraging. The researchers found that 32% of articles on Facebook, Pinterest, Reddit and Twitter giving advice on cancer treatment contained "misinformation and potential for harm". Generally the errors prompted readers to postpone therapy or try ineffective or inappropriate remedies.
This is not simply being misinformed. It is potentially life threatening.
There is nothing on the horizon to suggest that the information you glean from social media is becoming any more reliable. Perhaps it is time to restrict your social media time to cat photos and catching up with family and friends and find your news and information elsewhere.
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