Have you ever relied on information from social media, text messages and other informal sources during crisis? What impact could doing so have on you? If you rely only on text messages of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp during crisis, you may fall experience more stress and emotional problems according to a new study. The impact of one’s source of information on health during difficult times was the focus of a recent paper titled published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

According to the research team led by Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychology and social behaviour,

“During a crisis situation, like a school shooting or lockdown, people often seek information to stay informed about what’s happening. However, when announcements and updates from official channels are lacking or irregular, there’s a high risk that rumors will fill the void. We wanted to explore how people coped with ambiguity during a campus lockdown and how a communications vacuum could lead to rumor generation, rumor transmission and distress.”

Days after an active shooter event on a large university campus, Silver and doctoral student Nickolas M. Jones surveyed almost 4,000 students who were caught in a two-hour lockdown and evaluated their information-seeking activities and levels of acute stress. Jones then used a big-data approach involving a large-scale analysis of social media content to code and examine rumors that appeared on Twitter spanning about five hours surrounding the lockdown.

When danger is imminent and official information is disseminated inconsistently, public anxiety is elevated. In the past, people relied on radio and television broadcasts to reduce uncertainty. Today social media channels are frequently the source of updates, and users are exposed to a greater number of conflicting speculations and unverified reports. Moreover, this exposure is associated with greater distress. Jones’ analysis of Twitter data showed that rumor generation and retweets were greatest during a 90-minute gap in communications from campus officials and were linked to heightened community-level negative emotion.

This paper highlights the need for individuals to cautiously filter the sources of any information that could potentially affect their health. During the Ebola crisis, misinformation about preventive measures contributed to loss of life and impeded recovery efforts too. More recently, misleading information from social media and other related sources threatened immunization efforts in Nigeria. Parents withdrew their wards away from school because of the fear of forced monkeypox vaccinations. Something fueled by social media and informal sources.
What can be done to reduce the impact of rumours?

Fact checking any information from social media and other unreliable sources help. Remember, the best time to do this is before passing on the information to others. Ask yourself: Is this true? is the information from a trusted source? Does it seem plausible?

“In any uncertain and dangerous situation, it’s important for officials to send frequent updates in real time and, when possible, include new details,” Jones said. “Emergency management and public safety officers should monitor social media channels to mitigate rumors as they arise. We believe that studying the data generated during these events can provide insight into understanding how communities attempt to deal with crises, which can be used to help better prepare for future events.”



Source:http://www.healthx24.com/rely-social-media-crisis/

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