How to protect yourself from false health information spreading online
Cloe Kizito says that every time she examines her social feed, some videos watch health and science misinformation.
16 -year -old Kizito, a fact checker and young journalist who are with mediusmarts, who make videos to show the teenagers how to determine how to determine what they see online are evidence to return it.
“I watch at least a video online that is saying,” Oh, it can fix it. ” Or do you know that by doing this, you are going to get this disease or this disease? “Onts, a resident of Kitchenar, said.
Kazito said that he has noticed more health misinformation in the last year Deepfeck And AIs become prominent Social mediaFakes often use the image of a famous person to generate a material that seems that a celebrity or politician is saying something when they are not really.
On Wednesday, Canadian Medical AssociationAt the same time, provincial and regional medical groups and other experts said how false health information is “increasing public discourses, public beliefs and policy tasks.”
Canadian doctors say that a part of the result, patients are looking reluctant to accept proven remedies and suffer the results, even death.
Why wrong information is dangerous
Professor Tim Kaulfield of a law at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and the CMA’s signator said that social media affected and podcasters have played a big role in broadcasting health misinformation over the years.
“I think the fundamental change is that all these topics have become political,” Caulfield said.
“They have become part of the story that especially political community sells and believe. Once it is about the identity of the people, it becomes more difficult to change the minds of people. We are absolutely looking at, especially in the United States, but fast in Canada.”
Caulfield said that it may seem like a hyperbole that causes misinformation, it is true that an increase in the vaccine causes children who die of vaccine-pre-diseases such as measles. He said that as a result of financial exploitation, people also suffer losses in spending money on unproven supplements.
Dr. Post on the tiktok to fight wrong information about Joseph Dahin, Laval, Q., Kovid -19 and other diseases. In 2021, Dahin recalled a Kovid patient, who needed to intubat after complementary oxygen in the hospital. The man did not believe that Kovid existed.
A new study published in the Lancet Medical Journal suggests that childhood vaccination has been stable or declined since 2010. Authors say that geopolitical instability is promoting a decline in some countries, but misinformation is largely increasing the decline in high-age countries.
“We spend the longest time to convince him that we are just here to provide help. He changed his mind, but was too late and unfortunately he passed away,” Dahain remembered.
“I think this story can do misinformation, it is its peak.”
Dahin said that he has seen the loss of other misinformation, seeking natural remedies from cancerous youth, or ignoring the symptoms of metastatic breast cancer that have become incurable.
CMA calls Vaccine, Kovid Missinformation
CMA President and an oncologist Dr. Margot Barnel said that she sees two solutions. The first family doctors and nurse doctors have to improve primary care with more access to doctors, so people can get their medical advice from a medical businessman.
The second is to introduce patients with scientific facts about their treatment with compassion and anxiety so that they have information to make decisions.
“We need to increase access to primary care because people are demanding their advice (on social media) when they cannot go to their medical businessman,” or they do not have one.
“If they feel very unwell then they should go to an emergency department and go to the clinic after hours and do not take attention from being online.”
Dahin, which was not part of the statement, joined the CMA in calling for better access to doctors.
“If it is two in the morning and you are worried about something, then Google should not be before, you know, reflex,” Ticketkok, Twitter or Facebook is also a case. “It must be someone with credentials to help you.”
Unlike the affected, Dahin said that doctors like him who inform and educate online are not trying to sell hormones, supplements or master classes.
Contrary to popular misinformation, CMA’s statement indicates the body of evidence that does not cause vaccine or increases risk autismEvarctin What is not An effective treatment for covid, cancer or autism; And Kovid’s vaccine Are Safe and effective,
What to do about it
Caulfield recommends people to tell people to teach important thinking skills and media literacy, including the importance of scientific consent, what kind of misinformation they can see, debunar and correct. He reminds people of stopping before sharing.
“Those strategies, when done together, can also create a real difference in our polarized environment,” he said.
For his share, Kizito said that when his own friends send his videos, he wants to send her to join or avoid any particular food, she said she tries not to dismiss them.
Mediamarts, Canada’s Center for Digital Media Literacy, recommends, recommends These basic steps To identify misinformation:
“I ask them, okay, who posted this material, find the original source and then we leave,” Kizito said.
