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Internet and Misinformation

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(@ashishjoshi)
Posts: 121
Reputable Member Admin
Topic starter
 

The Internet has become a popular resource to learn about health. However, given the large amount of inaccurate information online, people can easily become misinformed.  Misinformation concerning health has particularly severe consequences with regard to people's quality of life and even their risk of mortality; therefore, understanding it within today's modern context is an extremely important task.  

It is important to discuss whether personal access to information is helping or hindering health outcomes. 
 
How has the internet changed people's engagement with health information?
 
Posted : January 28, 2021 11:09 am
drKhurana, Priya Gupta, Sudar Jyothi G and 8 people reacted
(@stuti)
Posts: 4
New Member
 

internet has been a part of human civilization for sometime now.

people have been using internet for entertainment, study, work, business and so on.

there is lot in the internet which might confuse people about  what is right and what should be skipped.

the correct use of internet should be practiced especially in the healthcare sector because it deals with health and well being of people.

some examples of misinformation are:

- misuse of statistics

-  fallacies

-  cherrypicking

- groupthinking

- propaganda

 

ways to avoid misinformation on the internet by following ways:

- have transparency on your work

-  site references to your work

- speak the right language

- remember that information kept on internet is not the overall knowledge about the matter but some important key features mentioned here on the internet

 

 

This post was modified 3 years ago by stuti
 
Posted : July 9, 2021 12:15 am
Priya Gupta reacted
(@priya-gupta)
Posts: 10
Active Member
 

Internet, can't do wrong or right . I think the impact it makes differs from person to person. Internet have both good and bad information.  The only thing is that if you google for something,  it should be from authenticated source but that doesn't mean that you should fully rely on it. A critical thinking should be applied before trusting anything on internet.  It may be good for others but not for you at times. Even in this Pandemic if you browse" is covid 19 vaccine safe?" Some articles may show yes it  is with explaining the benefits and some articles may show it's not. In order to avoid health related misinformation make sure the article author is from a medical background, the date of publishing is recent, the medical review board is there, certifications from health organizations, grammar, and language is correct.

 
Posted : July 9, 2021 9:54 am
(@sai-darpan)
Posts: 9
Active Member
 
Posted by: @ashishjoshi

The Internet has become a popular resource to learn about health. However, given the large amount of inaccurate information online, people can easily become misinformed.  Misinformation concerning health has particularly severe consequences with regard to people's quality of life and even their risk of mortality; therefore, understanding it within today's modern context is an extremely important task.  

It is important to discuss whether personal access to information is helping or hindering health outcomes. 
 
How has the internet changed people's engagement with health information?

The internet has become a popular resource to learn about health and to investigate one's own health condition. However, given the large amount of inaccurate information online, people can easily become misinformed. Misinformation concerning health has particularly severe consequences with regard to people's quality of life and even their risk of mortality; therefore, understanding it within today's modern context is an extremely important task.

This post was modified 3 years ago by Sai Darpan
 
Posted : July 9, 2021 10:27 am
(@dr-swati-kandpal)
Posts: 10
Active Member
 

"Don't believe in everything you read on the internet just because there is a picture with a quote next to it." – George Wasghinton

The world is dealing with a flood of misinformation. In this tough situation, where vaccination, medicine act like remedies, on the other hand, misinformation act like poison. Fake news is not a new phenomenon. Misinformation spread in media is becoming a serious social challenge. It is leading to a poisonous environment.

Some causes

  • News Media have lost credibility, which has become a source of fake news.
  • Social media has decentralized the creation and propagation of fake news.
  • Polarization of society
  • Lake of laws and policy regarding this
  • Everyone is busy sharing/liking/commenting on news items without checking the authenticity of the news.

Way to stop misinformation:

  • Check the sources of information
  • Read the whole story sometimes half story or headline of the story is more dangerous.
  • Check the writer or check the authenticity of the content.
  • Check the content date.
  • Government should need to make proper law regarding this

For more information: //www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/five-ways-united-nations-fighting-%E2%80%98infodemic%E2%80%99-misinformation

 

This post was modified 3 years ago 2 times by Dr. Swati Kandpal
 
Posted : July 10, 2021 2:04 pm
(@pooja-jain)
Posts: 6
Active Member
 

On Twitter and the concerns of smoking and medication goods, health misinformation was most frequent. While we need to recognize the challenges inherent in the dynamic scale of online opinion, our systematic evaluation provides a thorough comparison methodology to identify subsequent action areas for the analysis of social media misinformation. The largest problem is to characterize and assess the quality of social media information. Knowing the prevalence and the techniques of the health misinformation and the current knowledge gaps in this sector, will enable us to direct future studies and in particular to prepare evidence-based digital policy action plans to address this public health problem through various social media platforms.

//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7857950/

 
Posted : July 10, 2021 6:30 pm
(@nikita-sharma)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

COVID 19 AND MISINFORMATION:

Amidst the pandemic, while people were running here and there to grab all the required resources, there were plenty of people who actually helped each other and on the other hand there were a lot more who were spreading fake news, rumours, misleading information, conspiracy theories, etc making it very difficult for the government to control the panic and fear amongst the population as well as for citizens to trust any sorts of information being circulated. Some writers referred to this scenario as a “spiralling infodemic crisis”. There were numerous amounts of social media posts, messages, videos with unscientific claims, home cures, false news, fake statistics and what not which was being circulated amongst the masses like a fire in the forest.

The surge in the “infodemic” crisis was observed in four waves as mentioned below:

  1. Misinformation about the origin of the virus

According to a the news being circulated, the origin of the virus was said to be from bat manifestations, transmission through pigs, consuming Chinese oranges, virus being a biological weapon created by China and funded by the Bill Gates Foundation, Chinese killed 20,000 patients to eradicate the virus, 5G technology is responsible for it, some books and authors had already predicted its occurrence, etc.

  1. Old images and video circulated creating fear

A lot of old videos & photos of people falling sick, mass killing in China with the purpose of limiting the spread of the virus, Dettol and weed being useful in killing the virus or how some races have gene mutations which make them least likely to be affected by the virus. Even social media influencers and celebrities began circulating false information impacting the general public massively, however, social media platforms were pretty fast in controlling the circulations of posts but still a lot of damage had already been done. In no time, there was panic and chaos amongst the masses, suicide cases were being reported, people were consuming methanol as a rumour related to alcohol killing the virus was in the air. Poultry products consumption fell massively. Iran reported 700 deaths as people poisoned themselves by bootleg alcohol in order to cure protect themselves from the virus.

  1. The Cures

Social media platforms became the hubs for misinformation being circulated. People started sending across messages and videos depicting home remedies to cure the virus and also added the names of famous doctors to make their information for credible. The following cures were highlighted:

  • Use of lemon juice
  • A visit to temple will keep everyone safe/ belief in the almighty
  • Use of hot water and salt for gargles
  • Use of ginger
  • Consumption of cow’s urine
  1. Lockdowns

In our country the news about lockdowns being put or even getting lifted were circulated way before the government actually decided and announced. Misinformation regarding what’s allowed and what’s not was on a roll. This led to panic buying, storing of all household utilities, people visiting places and crowding them as they were not aware when they will get to do it again, people travelling aimlessly in the fear of sitting at home for an extended period, interacting with friends and family face to face, etc. 

 

Effects of misinformation being circulated:

 

  1. Communal riots
  2. Slowing down of vaccination drives
  3. Complications in patients as they chose their beliefs over scientific logic
  4. Social media crash

REFERENCES:

  1. //apnews.com/article/misinformation-surges-india-covid-c52d04de1c3b2332d572736ee069a495
  2. //www.dw.com/en/india-covid-misinformation/a-57414876
  3. 3. //www.ha-asia.com/trends-in-covid-19-misinformation-in-india/
  4. //www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/06/07/india-misinformation-covid-19-pandemic/

5. //www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53165436

6. //meedan.com/reports/coronavirus-misinformation-in-india-is-not-limited-to-health-misinformation/

 
Posted : July 29, 2021 7:01 pm
(@hania-hiba-khan)
Posts: 8
Active Member
 

Although users on the internet may not be intentionally spreading false information for malicious reasons, but the misinformation is still being spread across the Internet. Many research Studies show that misinformation that is introduced through a social format influences the individuals drastically more when compared to the misinformation delivered non-socially. This makes many vulnerable to accepting and acting on misinformation. So one should always be alert when it comes to finding information online and should only follow the trusted sources.

 
Posted : August 3, 2021 9:58 pm
(@drkhurana)
Posts: 1
New Member
 

Though there is a high increase in misinformation on the internet. But, some measures are being taken by Instagram and other social media platforms to mark the information as false and malicious. I hope that tool can be used at a vast scale in the upcoming times. Yes, I agree there is a lot of misinformation spread on Google, which makes people accept the false information. Likewise other social media platforms, the same can be implemented in other platforms to protect the people.

 
Posted : August 9, 2021 1:47 pm
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