We’re Leaving Social Media. Here’s Why.

Social media just isn’t for us. There, we said it! In the mad, mad world of Instagram, Facebook, and whatever X is, we’re uncomfortable with the current trends in social media medical communication – so, in the name of our professional duty to you, our patients, we’re making the promise to remain quiet until we actually have something important to say. 

Here’s why we’re leaving social media and getting back to the roots of trustworthy medical news and communication.

Our Gripe with Social Media & Medical Communication

It sure is a continuous chore to stay relevant in the digital sphere. As a means of keeping in touch with your third cousin twice removed, sure, Facebook is great. But as a way to communicate accurate, up-to-date medical information, social media platforms miss the mark big time. Our gripe with social media is threefold.

Social Media Rewards Quantity Over Quality

The need to post regularly to keep up with the algorithm creates a content vacuum that needs to be filled constantly. In order to feed the beast, you often have to create hype where it doesn’t exist for topics that aren’t truly worth the focus – or else lose your audience. It’s hollow for the soul; it’s disastrous for reliable medical communication. 

That’s because the medical news cycle is organic. It doesn’t follow the mechanisms of an algorithm, and it doesn’t give a hoot about “likes” or “follows.” In medicine and health, research is conducted, findings are reported, and it takes as long as it takes. When researchers unveil new findings, they do so without regard to what’s trending. They certainly don’t follow a consistent twice-per-week timetable. 

Neither do rapidly evolving illnesses like Covid or the flu. Diseases like these are always mutating and evolving, and you never know when a new strain can take the place of a milder version. We need to have the flexibility in communication to alert you when you need to be careful, but we don’t need to ramble on if there’s nothing new to say. 

This quantity-over-quality sensation is misaligned with our vision as a practice, and we’d rather spend the energy doing what we do best: taking care of you. 

And when we have medical information that we find worth sharing, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear. It just won’t be on Instagram. 

Social Media Is Rife with Health Misinformation

Distrust in the healthcare system is shockingly common in the United States, and we can’t help but draw a parallel between this trend and social media health misinformation. When a lack of trust exists between the general public and their professional institutions, it is the responsibility of those institutions to reform that bond. Tapping out of social media is our way of beginning that process.

Social media is crowded with anecdotal stories and opinions. It’s one thing to hear someone’s personal experience and say, hmm. It’s another to hear many stories from people who share that same experience – that’s an understandable cause for concern. But here’s the thing: these shared experiences represent the beginning of the scientific method, the jumping-off point for further research, the hypothesis, not the conclusion. 

And the problem with health misinformation on social media is that many people sharing these stories swap the anecdotal evidence for the scientific data, the hypothesis for the conclusion. 

Social Media Is Loud

That’s our personal feeling, at least. The surplus of content resulting from the continuous demands of the algorithm drowns out the really important stuff that you actually should be hearing. Sifting through piles of flashy-trashy content becomes a chore, and medical fact is confused by popular myth. You wind up not knowing what to believe. 

So for us, plan on 2024 being a quieter year. Shouting to be heard above the thundering masses is not on the agenda, and that means our social media presence will dwindle naturally as well as by design.

We Used to Remind Our Children That “Quiet Is Cool.” We Still Believe It.

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We may be leaving social media, but that doesn’t mean we’re done sharing the medical information that you need to know to stay healthy. Far from it. We’re just taking the disciplined stand to stay quiet until there is something truly important to say – and choosing more appropriate venues to say it. 

You can find conversations that we find important on the ZüpMed YouTube channel or by signing up for our email newsletter. Until then, enjoy the quiet. 

Posted by ZüpMed