What Is Digital Epidemiology?
Damian Jacob Sendler : Digital epidemiology is an extension to traditional use of epidemiology in healthcare research Do you understand how the use of online spaces can inform us about medical problems or health information-seeking behavior. That is obviously a very loose definition that is specifically applicable to the kind of research that I contact. There is no global consensus on what digital epidemiology is as the field is rapidly growing. Just a few years ago, research papers that would show the correlation between spikes in Google search for signs and symptoms of influenza and an increase in the size of flu in particular regions of the world were considered scientifically invalid. Right now there is plenty of research on topics like common health issues, vitamin use, suicidality – all of which show that we can accurately predict how particular online behaviors predict the occurrence of specific health concerns.
Is epidemiology all about studying the occurrence of diseases?
Damian Jacob Sendler: Certainly yes. Epidemiology can quantify to what degree specific health issues affect people. This level of knowledge is especially useful when we try to understand what is the next big issue in medicine. Obviously epidemiology evolves over time just as much as any other traditional field of medicine has, Given the growing quantity of health data and understanding of people’s behavior in time and space. right now we are a lot more likely to share data on health concerns on a global level, and that drives epidemiological research.
In Your Research, You Ask the Question of How Digital World Affects Mental Health. Why?
Damian Jacob Sendler : Because this is one of the most misunderstood facts about how technology influences his mental health. When the Internet was invented in the late 80s, most people would not have known that it just 10 to 20 years later the Internet would be the source of information for just about anything. If you told anyone just 10 years ago that the vast majority of the society would become dependent on social media to function normally, most would think that you are crazy. However, the time has shown that digital technology, while immensely useful in education, job seeking, and finding love or friendships, has actually created an entire generation of people that feel lonely And often feel overwhelmed with knowledge about specific health questions rather than feeling refreshed from having access to various resources. Moreover, because a lot of people use social media, they develop a false understanding of the reality around them. This is especially relevant in topics like romanticism and travel, were a very narrow group of people successfully curate posts and images that create false equivalency of happiness and fulfillment. Therefore, it is really important to understand not only help people consume information available to them online, but also track down how it impacts their mental health well-being.
Damian Jacob Sendler’s rules on studying digital epidemiology:
- Examine what diseases and health concerns create search trends;
- Catalog what causes the greatest amount of confusion regarding health information.
- Understand how people acquire, process, and understand health information in the natural habitat of online discussion spaces.
