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doi:10.1111/jpc.12555
EDITORIAL
Social media and communication
There can be few things more presumptuous than a selfconfessed technophobe1 writing an editorial on social media. However, it is impossible to ignore the effects of social media on communication. World-wide, the vast majority of children use social media to communicate with their peer group. In addition, social media has an important role in health communication. A search of the Cochrane Library found three systematic reviews of email as a means of communication, six reviews of the use of mobile phones for health interventions and 116 reviews of the use of the Internet in health. A systematic review of studies of social media for health communication published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found 98 peer-reviewed studies from 2002 to 2012.2 The systematic review identified six benefits regarding improved information but 12 limitations, mainly to do with research quality and privacy.2 Ever since Alexander Graham Bell invented the first practical telephone, people have questioned the effects of innovations on communication and socialisation. Would the telephone ruin the art of conversation? Incidentally, Bell’s mother and wife were both deaf. Social media is likely to facilitate communication not impair it. The use of Facebook or Twitter and more recently of mobile phone apps to send messages to multiple people simultaneously has remarkable powers of amplification. This is somewhat reminiscent of the polymerase chain reaction which amplifies regions of nucleic acid to detect organisms. The term ‘go viral’ is used for a rapidly spreading Internet message.
Millions of viewers will watch an amusing short video on YouTube, and health workers have tried using YouTube to promote health messages. In addition, social media has a fascinating potential epidemiological role. Early in outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera3 or pandemic influenza,4 data available through official public health institutions are often not available for weeks. Analysis of Internet postings such as Twitter in real time can provide invaluable information about spread and infectivity. Older generations will grumble that children spend their time looking at their mobile phones instead of talking to people face to face. Perhaps they would prefer that children kept their heads in books. There are some specific social problems with social media. Internet addiction5 has achieved multiple three-letter acronym (TLA) status by giving rise to the alternative names of Internet addiction disorder, problematic Internet use or compulsive Internet use (CIU). However, before the Internet, humans found other behaviours to which they became addicted: books, films, shopping, food, gambling, exercise and sex, to name a few. The problem is with the person who becomes addicted rather than with the mode of addiction, and behavioural addiction is likely to be less problematic generally than addiction to alcohol or drugs. The relative anonymity of Internet users may be a factor in the rise of cyberbullying, which has been blamed for suicides and mental health problems. The victim, targeted through mobile phone or computer use, may feel simultaneously isolated and exposed to widespread ridicule. Bullying in schools is long standing and pernicious, but the use of social media adds a whole new dimension. Health-care professionals who use social media need to be even more conscious than usual of confidentiality. Medicine is a stressful profession, and professionals often feel the need to discuss the real-life problems of children and their families. While private discussion with colleagues, friends or relatives should ideally respect patient confidentiality, such respect for confidentiality is absolutely essential for any postings on social media. Before posting any information about patients, health-care workers should consider the situation to be analogous to a scientific publication: If the patient is remotely identifiable, they may be in breach of confidentiality. It is far better to separate work and leisure and to use social media as a leisure activity not to debrief about work. Indeed, one of my major concerns about modern technology is that it tends to blur the boundaries between work and leisure: It is hard to ignore work emails which arrive on mobile phones at weekends. Maybe the smartest thing is not to own a smart phone.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 421–422 © 2014 The Author Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
Professor David Isaacs Editor-in-Chief Children’s Hospital at Westmead Sydney, New South Wales Australia 421
Social media and communication
D Isaacs
References 1 Isaacs D. Technophobia. J. Paed. Child Health. 2012; 48: 625. 2 Moorhead SA, Hazlett DE, Harrison L, Carroll JK, Irwin A, Hoving C. A new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013; 15: e85. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1933. 3 Chunara R, Andrews JR, Brownstein JS. Social and news media enable estimation of epidemiological patterns early in the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2012, 86: 39–45.
422
4 Signorini A, Segre AM, Polgreen PM. The use of twitter to track levels of disease activity and public concern in the U.S. during the influenza A H1N1 pandemic. PLoS ONE 2011; 6: e19467. doi: 10.1371/journal .pone.0019467. 5 Flisher C. Getting plugged in: an overview of Internet addiction. J. Paed. Child Health. 2010; 46: 557–9.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 421–422 © 2014 The Author Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
doi:10.1111/jpc.12555
EDITORIAL
Social media and communication
There can be few things more presumptuous than a selfconfessed technophobe1 writing an editorial on social media. However, it is impossible to ignore the effects of social media on communication. World-wide, the vast majority of children use social media to communicate with their peer group. In addition, social media has an important role in health communication. A search of the Cochrane Library found three systematic reviews of email as a means of communication, six reviews of the use of mobile phones for health interventions and 116 reviews of the use of the Internet in health. A systematic review of studies of social media for health communication published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found 98 peer-reviewed studies from 2002 to 2012.2 The systematic review identified six benefits regarding improved information but 12 limitations, mainly to do with research quality and privacy.2 Ever since Alexander Graham Bell invented the first practical telephone, people have questioned the effects of innovations on communication and socialisation. Would the telephone ruin the art of conversation? Incidentally, Bell’s mother and wife were both deaf. Social media is likely to facilitate communication not impair it. The use of Facebook or Twitter and more recently of mobile phone apps to send messages to multiple people simultaneously has remarkable powers of amplification. This is somewhat reminiscent of the polymerase chain reaction which amplifies regions of nucleic acid to detect organisms. The term ‘go viral’ is used for a rapidly spreading Internet message.
Millions of viewers will watch an amusing short video on YouTube, and health workers have tried using YouTube to promote health messages. In addition, social media has a fascinating potential epidemiological role. Early in outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera3 or pandemic influenza,4 data available through official public health institutions are often not available for weeks. Analysis of Internet postings such as Twitter in real time can provide invaluable information about spread and infectivity. Older generations will grumble that children spend their time looking at their mobile phones instead of talking to people face to face. Perhaps they would prefer that children kept their heads in books. There are some specific social problems with social media. Internet addiction5 has achieved multiple three-letter acronym (TLA) status by giving rise to the alternative names of Internet addiction disorder, problematic Internet use or compulsive Internet use (CIU). However, before the Internet, humans found other behaviours to which they became addicted: books, films, shopping, food, gambling, exercise and sex, to name a few. The problem is with the person who becomes addicted rather than with the mode of addiction, and behavioural addiction is likely to be less problematic generally than addiction to alcohol or drugs. The relative anonymity of Internet users may be a factor in the rise of cyberbullying, which has been blamed for suicides and mental health problems. The victim, targeted through mobile phone or computer use, may feel simultaneously isolated and exposed to widespread ridicule. Bullying in schools is long standing and pernicious, but the use of social media adds a whole new dimension. Health-care professionals who use social media need to be even more conscious than usual of confidentiality. Medicine is a stressful profession, and professionals often feel the need to discuss the real-life problems of children and their families. While private discussion with colleagues, friends or relatives should ideally respect patient confidentiality, such respect for confidentiality is absolutely essential for any postings on social media. Before posting any information about patients, health-care workers should consider the situation to be analogous to a scientific publication: If the patient is remotely identifiable, they may be in breach of confidentiality. It is far better to separate work and leisure and to use social media as a leisure activity not to debrief about work. Indeed, one of my major concerns about modern technology is that it tends to blur the boundaries between work and leisure: It is hard to ignore work emails which arrive on mobile phones at weekends. Maybe the smartest thing is not to own a smart phone.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 421–422 © 2014 The Author Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
Professor David Isaacs Editor-in-Chief Children’s Hospital at Westmead Sydney, New South Wales Australia 421
Social media and communication
D Isaacs
References 1 Isaacs D. Technophobia. J. Paed. Child Health. 2012; 48: 625. 2 Moorhead SA, Hazlett DE, Harrison L, Carroll JK, Irwin A, Hoving C. A new dimension of health care: systematic review of the uses, benefits, and limitations of social media for health communication. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013; 15: e85. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1933. 3 Chunara R, Andrews JR, Brownstein JS. Social and news media enable estimation of epidemiological patterns early in the 2010 Haitian cholera outbreak. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 2012, 86: 39–45.
422
4 Signorini A, Segre AM, Polgreen PM. The use of twitter to track levels of disease activity and public concern in the U.S. during the influenza A H1N1 pandemic. PLoS ONE 2011; 6: e19467. doi: 10.1371/journal .pone.0019467. 5 Flisher C. Getting plugged in: an overview of Internet addiction. J. Paed. Child Health. 2010; 46: 557–9.
Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health 50 (2014) 421–422 © 2014 The Author Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2014 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians)
