Health and Media

Meta and the Center for Open Science (COS) opened a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a new pilot program, designed to support the study of topics related to social media use and well-being.

The Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the Biden Administration's contacts with social media platforms to combat what administration officials said was misinformation. The lawsuit, spearheaded by Republican state attorneys general in Missouri and Louisiana, had fared well in the lower courts, at one point resulting in an unprecedented injunction that blocked top government officials from communicating with social-media

When California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out an ambitious, if hazy, plan to remove smartphones from public classrooms in the interest of kids’ safety, it marked a turnaround that would have shocked any hyper-ambitious Democratic politician from a generation ago. “Connecting kids” was once an obvious political winner.

Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) vowed to severely restrict the use of smartphones during the school day, a dramatic move by the nation’s largest state amid dire warnings from the Biden administration that social media harms children. Newsom’s decision comes a day after Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy warned the threat social media poses to kids is so acute that Congress should compel apps to include warning labels similar to cigarettes and alcohol. Newsom said he would work with his Democratic-dominated Legislature to pass the restrictions during the current session that ends in August.

Adolescents and young adults are facing elevated rates of mental health issues—and they're also struggling with access to the mental health care they urgently need. When young people express the need for professional help, they often encounter obstacles to seeing a therapist, such as prolonged wait times, limited local access to mental health providers, or financial barriers. In light of these barriers, young people turn to social media and digital mental health apps to attempt to fulfill their needs.

One of the most important lessons I learned in medical school was that in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information. You assess the available facts, you use your best judgment, and you act quickly.

The record shows that Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) recipients regard using access to broadband as critical to their healthcare. A recent study found that 75% of ACP participants fear that losing access to ACP will result in losing access to healthcare. This is consistent with another large-scale survey found that 45% of adults believe that inadequate access to technology, including broadband and computers, is a barrier to telehealth, and this was especially prominent among rural residents and adults over the age of 65. That is, ACP

Michigan Medicaid patients need only Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's signature to be able to pay the same rates for telehealth as they do for in-person doctor's visits. HB 4580, sponsored by Rep. Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield, has already passed the Senate and House.

What is the economic benefit of the Affordable Connectivity Program to the health care system? In short, there are many ways that telehealth can reduce costs and improve outcomes.

Myrna Broncho realized just how necessary an internet connection can be after she broke her leg. Broncho needed nine surgeries and rehabilitation that took months.