Social Media News and Research

Latest Social Media News and Research

Your phone might be the reason you can’t sleep

Researchers investigate whether screen use in bed, particularly social media use, affects sleep as compared to other screen-based activities in students.

4 Apr 2025

Trump’s DEI undoing undermines hard-won accommodations for disabled people

For years, White House press conferences included sign language interpreters for the deaf.

3 Apr 2025

Misuse of nitrous oxide linked to rising deaths and hospitalizations

Despite a recent Food and Drug Administration warning against inhaling nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, deaths due to misusing the substance are on the rise in the United States.

2 Apr 2025

National Walking Day encourages movement for better health

Sedentary behavior has become a national health crisis, with 1 in 4 U.S. adults sitting for more than eight hours a day, increasing their risk for heart disease, stroke, and mental health challenges, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

2 Apr 2025

Eating videos on social media normalize overeating and thin ideals, study finds

Researchers analyzed 180 popular eating videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Bilibili to assess their influence on body image and eating behaviors. They found frequent depictions of overeating by thin hosts, potentially normalizing unhealthy habits and reinforcing unrealistic body ideals.

1 Apr 2025

‘They won’t help me’: Sickest patients face insurance denials despite policy fixes

Sheldon Ekirch spends a lot of time on hold with her health insurance company. Sometimes, as the minutes tick by and her frustration mounts, Ekirch, 30, opens a meditation app on her phone. It was recommended by her psychologist to help with the depression associated with a stressful and painful medical disorder.

31 Mar 2025

Racial disparities persist in survival rates for young athletes with cardiac arrest

The overall survival rate of athletes who suffer sudden cardiac arrest has improved over the past decade, but the likelihood of surviving varies by race, where the cardiac arrest occurred and what athletes were doing when they collapsed, according to featured clinical research presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25) and simultaneously published in JACC.

31 Mar 2025

Can brain-healthy eating improve your quality of life? This study tested it

A 12-week feasibility trial tested the MIND diet in midlife adults, showing improved diet quality, mood, and physical quality of life but no significant cognitive gains.

30 Mar 2025

New research reveals factors influencing steroid hormone levels in healthy adults

Steroid hormone levels in healthy adults are influenced by oral contraceptives and smoking, as well as other lifestyle choices and factors such as biological sex and age, according to new research that has just been published in leading international journal Science Advances.

28 Mar 2025

Banning smartphone and social media access fails to protect children from digital harm

Banning smartphone and social media access alone fails to equip children for healthy use of technology, argues a group of international experts in The BMJ today.

27 Mar 2025

Addressing cardiovascular risk factors in emerging adulthood

Many teenagers enter adulthood with significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and the transition from adolescence to adulthood is a key time to address these risk factors and reduce the risk of developing future cardiovascular disease, according to a new American Heart Association scientific statement published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

26 Mar 2025

Report shows alarming measles resurgence in Europe and US

A recent report shows cases of measles across the World Health Organization's European Region, which includes the UK, are the highest they've been for more than 25 years. At the same time, large outbreaks of measles in the US have led to the first measles deaths there since 2015.

26 Mar 2025

New study challenges assumptions about youth and digital media

A groundbreaking new study of young people's digital media use has revealed surprising results, including evidence that smartphone ownership may actually benefit children.

26 Mar 2025

TikTok fuels ADHD self-diagnosis with misleading content, study shows

Psychologists find most TikTok videos about ADHD to be misleading, often overgeneralizing normal behaviors as symptoms. These videos shape young adults’ perceptions and contribute to rising self-diagnosis trends.

25 Mar 2025

Many people with disabilities risk losing their Medicaid if they work too much

Zach Mecham has heard politicians demand that Medicaid recipients work or lose their benefits. He also has run into a jumble of Medicaid rules that effectively prevent many people with disabilities from holding full-time jobs.

25 Mar 2025

The Colorado psychedelic mushroom experiment has arrived

Colorado regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms and are planning to authorize the state's first "healing centers," where the mushrooms can be ingested under supervision, in late spring or early summer.

24 Mar 2025

Tribal health leaders say Medicaid cuts would decimate health programs

As Congress mulls potentially massive cuts to federal Medicaid funding, health centers that serve Native American communities, such as the Oneida Community Health Center near Green Bay, Wisconsin, are bracing for catastrophe.

19 Mar 2025

TikTok influencers promote cycle syncing, but where’s the evidence?

Researchers analyzed 100 top TikTok videos on menstrual cycle syncing, finding that most lacked scientific credibility, with only 4% citing research and 30% providing creator credentials.

18 Mar 2025

Coalition of experts reaffirms vaccines as essential for public health

In response to growing concerns over vaccine misinformation, declining public trust in science, and recent outbreaks of preventable diseases, a coalition of 34 scientific and medical organizations, led by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the American College of Physicians (ACP), has issued a unified statement emphasizing the critical role of vaccinations in public health.

18 Mar 2025

Checking the facts on Medicaid use by Latinos

Spending cuts, immigration, and Medicaid are at the top of the Washington agenda. That climate provides fertile ground for misinformation and myths to multiply on social networks.

17 Mar 2025