By
Obododimma Oha
Social media is good in creating awareness. People get information easily from the internet, provided they are connected. They could get any kind of information and great help. They could get information on health, even from non-experts and quacks. Talk of WhatsApp groups, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There are deep and shallow graves!
Colleges of medicine spend many years training people in various aspects of health. The social media forums spend just few minutes in training quacks through sharing of sometimes silly write-ups on health. The attraction to silly write-ups is great. Many are misled but are ready to pontificate the next minute on health.
Colleges of medicine may emphasize specializations, but those trained by social media know every area well and are authorities everywhere.
Does one still need convincing? Ok, to take care of it, there could be a narrative of an experience of a doctor at Harvard. Who has time to verify it? Also, Harvard is a great name that can do great things! Moreover, you are talking about America, which is another heaven! So, the narrative is healthy.
The name of a doctor could be mentioned in the narrative. Didn't I say it's a great testimonial?
This testimonial strategy is popular with pulpit discourse. Pulpit speakers may find the need for a proof. A story is fine. So, preachers are good with it. Now , social media trainers have to borrow it. But it is useful to them.
The narrative has to be surprising, even magical.
It is good to look for information on the internet. It's a huge repository of knowledge. But trained health workers are still trained health workers. Social media sharing cannot erase their skills.
There are serious implications of this reliance, which include:
(1) People being led into self-medication.
(2) People being led into taking the wrong treatment.
(3) People being led to taking things that can aggravate their health conditions or cause other health problems.
(4) The society being sick, especially in relation to the management of knowledge.
The practice of self-medication removes the relevant health practitioner from the picture. Not that one cannot treat oneself. In fact, who is nearer and understands oneself more than oneself? But there are people who understand it better. They are actually taking responsibility and should be trusted.
When we give ourselves medical treatment, we take away this responsibility and trust. We also endanger our lives.
It is worse when we take the wrong things as medicines. Taking the wrong medicine is choosing to kill oneself unknowingly. Ok, one is still standing after taking them. But wait. The bad news is coming.
It is also possible that the stuff can go and wake a sleeping tiger, a dormant illness looking for a chance to answer "Present, sir." It can in this vein cause a new illness.
That means spending more money and time, not to talk of spending life!
What we have presented indicates that it is not only the author of this article that can have a headache with social media sharing. One is not talking about epidemics and its relatives. One is concerned about how silly social media sharing on health can create the wrong attitude about health and cause the circulation of more illness for a community. I believe that experts in community medicine are looking into it.
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