The screen time app on my iPhone tells me that I spend over ten hours a week on Twitter. And I’m not alone. As Netflix’s The Social Dilemma illustrated, social media platforms are designed to keep us scrolling for hours, even if we only opened the app for a second.1 Thousands of UK healthcare workers use Twitter every day, discussing everything from cutting edge COVID treatments to staff room fridge etiquette. As strange as it sounds, this esoteric little corner of the internet – affectionately if unoriginally nicknamed “MedTwitter” – has become a thriving online community.
References
- The Social Dilemma. [Documentary] Directed by Jeff Orlowski. USA: Exposure Labs, 2020. Netflix, Netflix.com/title/81254224
- Perrin A. Social media usage. Pew Research Centre. 2015 Oct 8;125:52-68.
- Rao M. Medfluencing: A New Role for Physicians in the Age of TikTok. Georgetown Medical Review. 2022 Jul 22:34633.
- Dugdale, L.S. and Braswell, H., 2021. Instacash: The ethics of leveraging medical student status on social media. Academic Medicine, 96(4), pp.507-511.
- Naslund JA, Aschbrenner KA, Marsch LA, Bartels SJ. The future of mental health care: peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences. 2016 Apr;25(2):113-22.
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