When TikTok is Your Doctor

KQED's Forum

Potato juice instead of antibiotics. Using beer in lieu of sunscreen. Shoving a garlic clove up your nose for sinus trouble. These are some of the remedies you might find on TikTok. The internet and quackery are not new concepts, but health advice – both good and bad – is a hot ticket item on social media platforms, especially for Gen Z. In fact, according to a recent study, a third of Gen Z-aged TikTok users trust that app more than their doctors. We look at what happens when TikTok is your doctor, and hear from you: have you used social media to diagnose an ailment or get medical advice? How did it go?

Guests:

Keren Landman, senior reporter covering public health, emerging infectious diseases, the health workforce, and health justice, Vox

Jessica Malaty Rivera, science communicator and infectious disease epidemiologist; science communication lead, The COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic; her social media feed came to prominence during the pandemic

Dr. Jen Gunter, OB/GYN and pain medicine physician; author, "The Vagina Bible"