CTAHR NEWS

Healthy Facts About Social Media

  • 28 September 2018
  • Author: Frederika Bain
  • Number of views: 7965
  • 0 Comments
Healthy Facts About Social Media

In a recent “Health Options” column for the Star-Advertiser, HNFAS nutritionists Joannie Dobbs and Alan Titchenal discuss the role that social media can play in affecting and maintaining people’s health. As they point out, “social media resources can have a great deal of influence on the information we access — and in turn what we believe,” and this includes information about health and nutrition. They point out that a lot of what we read on social media about food and diet can be “biased and misleading,” especially if it’s disseminated by special interest groups that have their own agendas, which may not coincide with ours. They also note that misinformation has always existed, but social media spread it much further and faster, and it also may not be as simple to figure out who is spreading it. They suggest people be critical thinkers, not oversimplify nutrition information, and make sure to ask themselves, “Who stands to gain financially from changing your behavior or gaining your support for their cause?” They end, “Social media is not going away, so make sure that you do not make any dramatic changes to your food choices without the facts.” We “like” this column!

Print
123468910Last