The scientist cites the way alcohol and other drugs are portrayed in the media as the cause. Health organizations should take countermeasures, according to new research from the University of Queensland ( HERE ).
Positive representations are dangerous
“We looked at nearly 16 million posts on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok and Weibo and found that drug and alcohol use were predominantly portrayed positively.”
Brienna Rutherford, PhD student University of Queensland
This is worrying because teenagers and young adults are the most vulnerable and heaviest users of social media.
“And they spend an average of eight hours a day online.”
Brienna Rutherford, PhD student University of Queensland
The consequences are serious because alcohol and drug consumption are the main causes of illness among teenagers and young adults.
Rules required
“Stricter rules need to be put in place for social media platforms to ensure that minors do not interact with or be exposed to potentially harmful content. “Social media is an incredibly powerful tool for change and, if used correctly, could be a massive asset in promoting public health.”
Brienna Rutherford, PhD student University of Queensland
Public health organizations could educate young people about the risks associated with drug, alcohol and nicotine use. Only about 21 percent of the posts sampled came from public health and education organizations that presented information about the harmful effects.
Countermeasures easily bypassed
Australia currently has age restrictions on graphic content that contains sexual themes or risky behavior, but drug use online is relatively unregulated. Many platforms have taken a blanket approach to ban or restrict related hashtags, but they can be easily found by publicly available internet search engines.
Source: press release
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