CLEVELAND — Teenagers are increasingly exposed to medical misinformation on social media platforms such as TikTok, according to Scott E. Hadland, a physician and professor of pediatrics. Approximately one in five teenagers regularly use social media to find health information, with TikTok serving as the primary platform for this purpose.
Hadland, chief of the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Mass General Brigham for Children and an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, stated that social media algorithms prioritize emotion and engagement over content accuracy. He noted that titles such as wellness coach, hormone expert, and gut health specialist are not subject to professional regulation. Hadland predicted that AI-generated content will increase the spread of medical misinformation.
Hadland advises parents against completely banning their teenager's access to social media. Instead, he recommends parents periodically browse social media feeds alongside their teenagers. Hadland said: "It's actually much better for parents to engage with a young person, ask the young person what are they seeing online, what influencers are they following, why they are following them, what information they are learning from them, and to really be curious about this because that curiosity will help parents to drive conversations that they can have in which they highlight the ways in which what a young person might be watching could be false or misleading."
He added that doctors aim to help families understand their health through conversations. Hadland commonly observes young people presenting with eating disorders and body image concerns due to online content.