The Influence of Social Media on Health Behaviour: Understanding Influences, Risks, and Opportunities
Author : Afra KV, Aadithyan CA and Athul G Sivan
Abstract :
The range of social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Are very large and constantly expanding. There will be only a minority of us, who have not been part of at least one of these social media. The influence of social media on us has not been neglected in recent times. Today we are ‘connected’ like never before. The main feature of social media is that, it allows people to express themselves freely and use it to build a career out of it, and like any other thing, it also has its pros and cons. Just like any other field, the health sector is also making effective use of social media, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, social media played a huge role in connecting people and creating awareness among people. Through this review paper, we are trying to examine the influences of social media on healthcare practices. Specifically, this paper will try to point out the positive impacts of social media, such as facilitating health information dissemination, peer support networks, health promotion campaigns, etc. We will also analyze the negative influences like misinformation propagation, cyberbullying, the promotion of unhealthy behavior, etc.
Keywords :
Social media, health behaviors, misinformation, unhealthy practices, health influencers
