Warning: Fake News!
Written by Melissa Zenteno
Edited by Shashank Deepak
April 5, 2024
Edited by Shashank Deepak
April 5, 2024
Health and Wellness
Misinformation spreads like wildfire and has the potential to affect all aspects of a person’s lifestyle. While misinformation has been around for a long time, the term was first coined in 1925. Today, the fast pace of the internet has provided us with much quicker ways to spread all types of information, harmful or beneficial. This “misinformation has an effect on people’s emotions and cognitive basis” (Chou, et al, 2022). However this is a game of telephone where the message gets more distorted the more it gets passed around. There are two different levels of misinformation, the micro and macro level. Micro level is when an individual receives the information and whether they believe it or not. Macro level is when patterns are observed to see the cascades and characteristics.
In Yuxi Wang, et al.’s systematic review, the researchers looked for articles published in 2012 to 2018 that could give possible interventions for the spread of misinformation. The researchers reviewed 57 articles from five different databases. Topics that they looked at were nutrition, cancer, zika virus, and other health related misinformation. The misinformation had to be spread through social media.
The results showed that misleading videos have more influence than people’s experience. Other times the people are vulnerable, more likely to follow a trend. Such as young girls that are being fed certain body images. If they do not fit into the image they may go looking for solutions online such as anorexia, because the eating disorder is promoted as a way to obtain a socially acceptable body. “Young women and girls are the vulnerable population of this spread of misinformation, and there would have to be more research done for this specific population in order to find the best interventions and ways to educate the population” (Chou, et al, 2022).
Wang et al’s literature reviews state that there is misinformation about so many health topics because sometimes the misinformation is presented as a way for the population to have control of their autonomy. Other times there is misinformation because people do not have enough information from their care providers. However, it is still “incredibly difficult to do because it is difficult to identify what people are going to receive misinformation” (Chou, et al, 2022).
In order to prevent misinformation the researchers recommended fact checking the information found on social media platforms, since a lot of the information being shared on social media tends to be misinformation.
Citations
Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, Anna Gaysynsky, and Joseph N. Cappella, 2020: Where We Go From Here: Health Misinformation on Social Media American Journal of Public Health 110, S273_S275,https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305905
Wang, Y., McKee, M., Torbica, A., & Stuckler, D. (2019). Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media. Social science & medicine (1982), 240, 112552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112552
In Yuxi Wang, et al.’s systematic review, the researchers looked for articles published in 2012 to 2018 that could give possible interventions for the spread of misinformation. The researchers reviewed 57 articles from five different databases. Topics that they looked at were nutrition, cancer, zika virus, and other health related misinformation. The misinformation had to be spread through social media.
The results showed that misleading videos have more influence than people’s experience. Other times the people are vulnerable, more likely to follow a trend. Such as young girls that are being fed certain body images. If they do not fit into the image they may go looking for solutions online such as anorexia, because the eating disorder is promoted as a way to obtain a socially acceptable body. “Young women and girls are the vulnerable population of this spread of misinformation, and there would have to be more research done for this specific population in order to find the best interventions and ways to educate the population” (Chou, et al, 2022).
Wang et al’s literature reviews state that there is misinformation about so many health topics because sometimes the misinformation is presented as a way for the population to have control of their autonomy. Other times there is misinformation because people do not have enough information from their care providers. However, it is still “incredibly difficult to do because it is difficult to identify what people are going to receive misinformation” (Chou, et al, 2022).
In order to prevent misinformation the researchers recommended fact checking the information found on social media platforms, since a lot of the information being shared on social media tends to be misinformation.
Citations
Wen-Ying Sylvia Chou, Anna Gaysynsky, and Joseph N. Cappella, 2020: Where We Go From Here: Health Misinformation on Social Media American Journal of Public Health 110, S273_S275,https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305905
Wang, Y., McKee, M., Torbica, A., & Stuckler, D. (2019). Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media. Social science & medicine (1982), 240, 112552. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112552
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