How might we, as mentors and educators, enable followers of social media mavericks and podcast influencers to discern, critique, and verify the degrees of truth in their content and their messages?
How might we cross-reference any claims to truth on YouTube or podcasts with multiple sources of reliable evidence, and such as peer-reviewed journals and online evidence-based resources?
Seek truth about Covid
Critiques of John Campbell's YouTube talks on COVID-19 are not well evaluated well in academic and major news sources. This highlights the limitations of any social media maverick and podcast influencer about providing evidence.
The following critique applies to any online social media mavericks and podcast influencers.
Lack of peer review
Unlike academic journals, YouTube content is not peer-review in advance of publication. There is little or no rigorous checks on the accuracy of their reporting.
Rapidly changing information
The nature of the COVID-19 pandemic means that information and guidelines are constantly evolving, so older videos become outdated information.
Biased reporting
The belief systems of the content creators are rarely made explicit. This makes it challenging to assess for mis-information and disinformation about purported evidence. The presenter may cherry-pick and discuss peer-reviewed articles to support their point of view.
Differences in interpretations
Experts may interpret the same data differently, leading to different conclusions and conflicting recommendations.
Over-simplification
The process of simplifying complex medical and scientific evidence may lead to misinformation.
Incomplete reporting of data and evidence
Given time constraints, YouTube videos may omit critical details to create distorted information.
Reliance on secondary opinions
Content creators often rely on secondary sources based on interpretations made by people who did not read or do the original research.
Viewer misinterpretation
Viewers with varying levels of understanding about health and science may misinterpret the information presented.
How might we cultivate open-minded, truth-seeking, virtuous free-thinkers to co-create a fair-free-flourishing-future on a healthy planet for the benefit of all?
Use Perplexity.AI
Inquiry request: provide the best review 2023 articles that summarize the false claims, misinformation and disinformation about Covid. Two examples.
A Systematic Review Of COVID-19 Misinformation Interventions: Lessons Learned
Communication of COVID-19 Misinformation on Social Media by USA Physicians
Online Evidence-based resources
Physiotherapy: PEDro
In Medicine the first Rule of the Hippocratic Oath is to do no harm, is it not? There are research protocols for bringing new medicines to market. Both of these were broken in the so called pandemic.
When we see a whole industry breaking their own rules, we should question their proclamations.