Sandhya Raghavan
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Written By: Sandhya Raghavan | Published : November 16, 2017 2:34 PM IST
It's impossible to stay relevant in today's world without being on social media platforms. Not only does it facilitate easy communication between people, but also helps in quicker exchange of information. News tends to travel faster on social media than on any other platform. This is precisely why physicians and other healthcare providers have been harnessing social media technology to pick up chatter about health and medicine and to understand their patients better. Even patients on their part can benefit from being on social media. Support groups for health problems have been mushrooming all over Facebook, helping patients reach out to others like them and get inputs about latest treatment methods. It helps them collate valuable information, aiding them in taking informed decisions about things concerning their health.
As much as social media has revolutionised healthcare, there is also a flipside to it. On World Diabetes Day, eminent diabetologist Dr Pradeep Gadge spoke to The Health Site about the various aggravators of the diabetes epidemic in the country. And one of the points he made during the Q&A was the role of social media in exacerbating noncommunicable diseases like diabetes today. Social media acts like a double-edged sword. Did you know Instagram is the worst social media platform for mental health? Their benefits notwithstanding, Facebook, Instagram and Skype can also promote a sedentary lifestyle. Social media addicts substitute actual human interaction for online interaction and stay indoors for extended periods of time. Users spend weekends, holidays and after-work hours browsing videos on platforms like YouTube and miss out on any type of physical activity. And the number one enemy of noncommunicable diseases like diabetes, hypertension and obesity is a sedentary lifestyle. It can also promote sleep deprivation, which can aggravate the underlying conditions. Here's how social media causes sleep deprivation in teenagers.
It's true that the benefits of social media outweigh its negatives, but only if it is used it the correct way for exchanging information and communicating with other patients. In the case of addicts, social media platforms end up doing more bad than good.
