Speaker: Glenn Bingle --- Glenn Bingle is the Chief Medical Officer, Emeritus, of the Genetic Service and Counseling Community Health Network. He is Clinical Professor Vol. Medicine/Medical Molecular Genetics IUSM. (Email: 5844gjb@comcast.net) (Sponsored By: Glenn Bingle)(ID: 1907)
At the conclusion of the talk, the audience should understand: The differences in the definitions of health &, wellness; the molecular hypothesis of disease; the risks and benefits of social media on one’s Health!
Today’s Presentation
Program: Will Social Media Ruin Your Health Care?
Speaker: Glenn Bingle, MD, Chief Medical Officer Emeritus of the Genetic Service and Counseling,
Community Health Network
Introduced By: Himself
Attendance: NESC: 85, Zoom: 30
Guest(s): Charles Murray, Shiela Auslander, Mary K Solberg
Scribes: Terry Ihnat / Glenn Bingle
Editor: Ed Nitka
View a recording of today’s Zoom presentation at: www.scientechclub.org/zoom/1907.mp4
Dr. Bingle proceeded to show a 56 slide PowerPoint slide presentation on the topic. It was divided into 4 parts. He surveyed the live Scientech audience as to how many had social media accounts. 75 % had one or more social media accounts with Facebook the winner by far. The world’s population is 8.1 billion people and 5.1 billion have social media accounts.
He noted that the major controversy surrounding the use of social media are the invasion and unsanctioned use of posted personal data and the strong association with excessive use and the epidemic of mental illness in our children and adolescents. Dr. Bingle noted that the Anxious Generation (copyright 2024) by Jonathon Heidt was the most authoritative text on the association of social media with the mental health epidemic in the US.
Reviewing the history of social media as put forth in Tom Standage’s book Writing on the Wall, it dates back to 51 BC and Cicero and his use of papyrus scripts to carry news back and forth to Rome. Moving forward, it flows through the invention of the printing press, radio and television in different centuries. Dr. Bingle summarized the lengthy history of social media.
To help assess the impact of social media on health he reviewed 3 models of health. He prefers the multidimensional model which includes physical, emotional, mental and encompasses social and spiritual wellbeing.
He discussed the molecular theory of disease from the medical model of health which he was schooled in as a physician and noted that more than 90 percent of diseases are caused by aberrant proteins.
He believes most of the literature concludes that in older people, social media is a very good thing and elevates mood and relief from loneliness. In contrast he depicted several graphics from the Anxious Generation showing the spectacular increases in anxiety, depression and ADHD with spectacular increases in attempted suicide and suicide in young people. He noted the Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has posted two widely spread warnings about the mental health effects of social media on youth. Dr. Bingle noted one of the major risks to senior citizens is believing in fake and unsubstantiated health product advertising. Moreover, he noted that the placebo effect is one of the major drivers of the success of this multi-billion-dollar industry deploying false health care advertising. He gave several examples of such advertising on social media. Concluding, he showed a slide of recommendations to have a healthy relationship with social media and noted that we could use the technology to monitor our grandkids use of social media and shut down the app when it was deemed too much and thus putting them at risk for anxiety, depression and suicide.
Glenn Bingle, MD
