People my age get a huge amount of our information from our phones, including health advice. TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, group chats. And a lot of what’s floating out there is wrong, which is a bigger deal than people realize.
The World Health Organization actually has a word for this: an “infodemic.” That’s when false or misleading info spreads so fast online that it starts messing with people’s decisions. The WHO Director-General once said we weren’t just fighting an epidemic, we were fighting an infodemic. WHO also found that in some studies, misinformation made up as much as half of vaccine-related posts and even more of pandemic ones.
When people believe bad health info, they make bad decisions, like skipping vaccines or trying things that don’t work, and they stop trusting the experts who actually know what they’re talking about.
Health literacy is so important. Basically, learning how to check where information actually comes from. Is it a doctor, a health agency, a real study? Or is it a random account from a stranger?
This is something I try to practice. I stick to sources like the CDC and WHO when I write these posts, because if I’m going to talk about health, I want to make sure I am getting it right.
