Social Media News and Research

Latest Social Media News and Research

Coming out about mental health on social media

Susanna Harris was sitting in her lab class for her graduate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill when she received an email that told her she had failed what she describes as "the most important exam in grad school," the doctoral qualifying exam. She took the rest of the day off, went home and baked cookies.

26 Aug 2019

Addiction clinics market pricey, unproven treatments to desperate patients

Jason was hallucinating. He was withdrawing from drugs at an addiction treatment center near Indianapolis, and he had hardly slept for several days.

23 Aug 2019

Dialysis industry spends big to protect profits

The dialysis industry spent about $2.5 million in California on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year in its ongoing battle to thwart regulation, according to a California Healthline analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the state.

23 Aug 2019

Two-thirds of truck drivers in Australia are obese, study finds

More than 200,000 people are employed as truck drivers in Australia and while their role in transporting goods across our wide brown land is critical, they are among the nation's most unhealthy.

23 Aug 2019

Measles back in UK three years after elimination

The United Kingdom was declared to be free of measles infection three years back in 2016 by the World Health Organization (WHO). In a recent development, due to the increasing number of cases of measles among unvaccinated children, the WHO has declared that UK can no longer be called measles-free.

20 Aug 2019

The collapse of a hospital empire — and towns left in the wreckage

The money was so good in the beginning, and it seemed it might gush forever, right through tiny country hospitals in Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and into the coffers of companies controlled by Jorge A. Perez, his family and business partners.

20 Aug 2019

Excess social media use harms teen health

The incredible growth of social media over the last decade has fueled many debates on whether it’s actually good or bad. Now, a new study sheds light on the effects of social media on the health and wellbeing in young people.

14 Aug 2019

Study explores how engaging in digital-free tourism impacts travelers' holiday experiences

New research reveals the emotional journey that tourists go on when they disconnect from technology and social media while traveling.

14 Aug 2019

Facebook could be key to helping new moms overcome breastfeeding challenges

Facebook could be the key to helping mothers overcome breastfeeding challenges. That's according to a new study from the University of Georgia.

14 Aug 2019

AI used to find unsafe foods using consumer product reviews

A new program can track all recalled foods based from Amazon customer reviews. Called BERT, the AI program identified thousands of recalled products with an accuracy rate of 74 percent.

6 Aug 2019

Superstar athletes popularize unproven stem cell procedures

Baseball superstar Max Scherzer — whose back injury has prevented him from pitching for the Washington Nationals since he last played on July 25 — is the latest in a long list of professional athletes to embrace unproven stem cell injections in an attempt to accelerate their recovery.

5 Aug 2019

Eating together promotes healthy food habits

Gathering around the table to eat as a family has all kinds of benefits. Family meals allow parents to be role models who create a supportive environment for the entire family.

5 Aug 2019

In the battle of the fitness trackers, the most steps might not win

When Sonia Anderson got her first Fitbit step tracker, her poor pooch, Bronx, had no idea of all the steps that were coming.

30 Jul 2019

Harvesting hidden information in chest X-rays using AI to predict mortality

The most frequently performed imaging exam in medicine "the chest X-ray" holds 'hidden' prognostic information that can be harvested with artificial intelligence, according to a study by scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital.

22 Jul 2019

Amid teen vaping ‘epidemic,’ Juul taps addiction expert as medical director

Juul Labs, the nation's leading manufacturer of e-cigarettes, has hired as its medical director a prominent University of California researcher known for his work on the dangers nicotine poses for the adolescent brain.

19 Jul 2019

TFLH, BHF and NHSBT highlight the need for heart and lung emojis

This World Emoji Day (17 July), the British Heart Foundation, Taskforce for Lung Health and NHS Blood and Transplant are highlighting the need for heart and lung organ emojis.

19 Jul 2019

Researchers use Twitter and artificial intelligence to see who’s exercising

Social media captures demographic data on physical activity by using Twitter and artificial intelligence (AI), a new study shows.

18 Jul 2019

Passive Facebook use tied to depressive symptoms

Everyone else is better than me. That’s the impression you get when you look at profiles on social networks.

18 Jul 2019

New curriculum to improve soft skills in schools boosts children’s health and behavior

A trial of a new curriculum to improve soft skills in secondary school children has shown that it can boost their physical health and behaviour, as well as changing their career aspirations.

18 Jul 2019

Adolescent girls who self-injure overestimate negative feedback in social media

Adolescent girls who self-injure feel that they receive more negative feedback than they actually receive, and are more sensitive to "thumbs down" responses, compared to other adolescent girls.

17 Jul 2019