If you’ve suffered from inflammatory bowel disease or IBD, you probably went to do a Google about IBD, and then, you have a bunch of articles right there. About 50% of people live with a chronic illness and go look online for information on that. It’s easy, and you can connect with information, professionals, and those who have this condition. But not every search engine is the same, since there are usually some false information spread around the websites, social media accounts, or even blog posts. They seem to be “helpful” but that’s not something that’ll do it. Sometimes it isn’t easy for you to figure out the right sources, but we’ll discuss the most common red flags that come with this.
Echo Chambers
If every commenter agrees with something published, you’ve probably discovered an echo chamber, which is where people will only say things that align with the beliefs that they have and refuse to consider anything different. They reinforce beliefs that exist already without testing them to see if there is misinformation. How do you figure out if you’ve got an echo chamber? You usually can look for this by seeing a lot of the same information. But to avoid it, you usually don’t want to look for information just because of hunches, which is where you interpret the evidence and information a certain way, instead of actually looking for the claim. With confirmation bias, there is always a tendency for the information to be there, and you might end up falling into the trap of echo chambers.
Promised Cures
There is no cure for IBD at the moment, and if an online source is promising this, they’re spreading information which is false. How do you avoid this? Look at the language that’s used to promote this IBD treatment and remember that anything that’s called a “cure” normally doesn’t exist. You should see if there is clinical proof that this can work, the results from the trials, whether or not there was a medical professional recommending any of this. By answering this, you can prevent misinformation from being consumed, and make sure to look at anything with a bit of a cynical gaze if they believe that it’s a “cure.”
A Lack of Credentials
This is another big one. If the information isn’t coming from a doctor or institution, you should automatically question this, since it does fall into questioning the claims. You may wonder how you can avoid this kind of misinformation? Well if a claim is there, see if there if a Doctor of Medical credentials attached to it. If not, take it with a grain of salt. That doesn’t mean that everything needs to be from a healthcare provider, but some people may be lying, so it’s important to scrutinize this, since you want to make sure that you don’t outright believe anything from those not qualified to provide advice.
While plenty are false though, you may want to do your research, especially if you’re looking to see if complementary medicine may work for IBD, or if it’s not a valid way for Crohn’s or UC to be treated. It can be hard to find the right evidence which is why you should talk to your doctor before following the advice3 you find on the internet. You should share articles with your doctor, and ask the questions that you might have there, so you’re not falling into the trap of false information regarding your condition and other important information for it as well, especially if it’s a serious thing.
