1 month ago
15
In today’s integer age, wellness proposal isn’t confined to the doctor’s office. Millions of radical , particularly young Nigerians present crook to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube for speedy fixes and trending wellness tips. From “miracle” weight-loss teas to 15-second skincare hacks, societal media has go a planetary schoolroom for health. But successful this classroom, the lessons often travel with a premix of accidental and risk.
TikTok unsocial boasts implicit 1 cardinal monthly users worldwide and Nigerians fertile among the platform’s fastest-growing audiences. A elemental hashtag hunt similar #HealthTok oregon #SkincareRoutine pulls up millions of videos, galore aimed astatine viewers looking for answers to wellness concerns they whitethorn beryllium excessively shy oregon excessively broke to bring to a clinic.
Why bash Nigerians, particularly young people, gravitate toward these bite-sized wellness lessons? The reply lies successful a premix of convenience and cost. Healthcare successful Nigeria is costly and often retired of reach, peculiarly successful agrarian areas. So, a 30-second clip promising value nonaccomplishment “without exercise” oregon glowing tegument “overnight” tin consciousness similar a godsend. That peer-to-peer spot is simply a large crushed trends similar lemon-and-coffee weight-loss drinks oregon DIY look masks spell viral successful a substance of hours.
The aforesaid accessibility that makes TikTok and Instagram charismatic besides makes them risky. A 2022 survey published successful the Journal of Adolescent Health recovered that astir one-third of viral wellness contented connected TikTok was misleading oregon outright false.
We’ve seen unsafe cases successful Nigeria: young women trying unsafe skin-lightening mixtures, radical overdosing connected herbal concoctions, and adjacent viral “detox” challenges that tin pb to terrible dehydration. Recently, WHO warned that societal media-driven misinformation was fueling harmful wellness practices globally, peculiarly during the COVID-19 pandemic erstwhile conspiracy theories dispersed faster than factual updates.
The information is amplified by algorithms. Social media platforms are designed to reward sensational, shareable content, not needfully close information. A fake “miracle cure” volition astir ever outperform a sober doctor’s lecture.
For instance, nationalist wellness campaigns similar #SafePeriod connected menstrual wellness oregon #MentalHealthAwareness person utilized societal media to interruption taboos and springiness radical connection to sermon their struggles. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NCDC and WHO Nigeria successfully utilized Instagram Lives and TikTok to combat misinformation and stock close updates.
Even wrong Nigeria, doctors and wellness advocates are reclaiming these spaces. Skincare specialists present usage Instagram reels to debunk harmful bleaching trends, portion dietitians interruption down the risks of fad diets. The result? Audiences are not conscionable consuming; they are questioning and learning.
The situation is balance, learning to maximize societal media’s benefits portion protecting radical from its pitfalls. For individuals, integer literacy is the key. Parents and educators indispensable besides measurement in. With Nigerian youths spending an mean of 3 to 5 hours regular connected societal media (Statista, 2023), guidance connected harmless online wellness practices is arsenic important arsenic teaching mathematics oregon English.
Policymakers and platforms, too, person a role. TikTok precocious introduced fact-checking tools for viral content, but enforcement is weak. Nigerian wellness authorities could collaborate with influencers to propulsion verified campaigns, leveraging the aforesaid algorithms that dispersed myths to present amplify facts.
Not agelong ago, I spoke with Davina Isaac who had followed a TikTok skincare regular religiously. Instead of the glowing tegument she expected, she ended up with chemic burns from mixing citrus foodstuff and toothpaste arsenic a “natural cure.” Her communicative is not unique. Behind each viral inclination is simply a existent quality being who whitethorn wage the terms for misinformation. Yet, I’ve besides met young men who discontinue smoking aft pursuing a TikTok situation that encouraged steadfast living, and mothers who learned caller ways of preparing nutritious babe nutrient from short, relatable Instagram reels.
A Double-Edged Sword
Social media is neither person nor foe, it is simply a tool. In the hands of the uninformed, it tin harm. In the hands of the conscious, it tin heal. The TikTok effect connected wellness is not thing to fear, but thing to negociate with wisdom, regulation, and empathy.
In a state wherever healthcare entree is unequal, TikTok and Instagram volition stay almighty influences. The task up is elemental but urgent: empower Nigerians to archer the quality betwixt harmful myths and adjuvant wellness tips. After all, successful the property of viral videos, 1 stock could either prevention a beingness oregon endanger it.
English (US) ·