MISINFORMATION SPREAD ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA- A CHALLENGE TO MEDICAL SCIENCES

Abstract

In recent years, the internet has changed the scenario how we were before internet. It has changed our lives in the positive ways and has made our life easier. Before internet we had to go to libraries to get any information on any topic and had to go to markets for shopping but now, we can get anything from clothes to groceries on a click and can also get information about each and everything on internet on a single click but everything has two face despites of being a boon to the society internet has been a cause of distress to the medical sciences. Misinformation is proving to be a big problem for health care professionals and various research studies are going on finding the way to spread prevent of misinformation and how to correct the misinformation found on internet and social media.

Various research studies have been done till now which provides a way of correcting misinformation, how healthcare professionals, expert organizations can help in reducing spread of misinformation and correction of misinformation. But still there are limitations of the studies done till now as the research is done in a limited geographical area and on the limited social media platforms and only limited organizations and credible sources are available which can reduce spread of misinformation and only RNs and MDs were included in correcting misinformation and one of the major limitation is that even after correction of misinformation, false beliefs among people again starts spreading raising concern about the durability of correct information and also there is no full proof plan which can prevent the spread

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of misinformation as studies have been done on correcting misinformation but there are no studies which focus on lasting durability of the correct information.

This study intends to take stock of how social media and medical sciences has evolved all together and how social media impact the people by spreading misinformation. The present study is statistical research, and it aims to understand and analyse the various dynamics involved in social media’s role in spreading misinformation about medical sciences. Hence, taking into consideration the research objectives, random sampling was done. The sample of the present study comprises one hundred and twenty people randomly selected of different age group, educational background and gender. The tool used in the study is Survey method. The method used for data collection was through a Questionnaire. For the purpose of analysis all the responses were thoroughly studied to identify general trends and findings.

From the survey, the researcher can conclude that respondents are dependent on social media and internet for getting health related information and they use social media for getting and sharing facts about the medical conditions. People are also aware of misinformation being spread on various platforms but are not much aware about the consequences it causes, there is need to make them aware about it and also there is a need to validate each and every data present on the social media and internet before posting it through credible sources as people need credible sources to get information about any medical conditions.