2021-11-09
32 分钟While technology and the internet have made accessing information easier than ever, how can we discern between the facts we need to make the right decisions and fictions that could actually cause us harm? Turns out there is a better way to search on the internet and find reliable information, both on- and offline. Today’s guest, Dr. Jen Gunter, is on a mission to help people find accurate health information online. In this episode, she shares tips on how to tell a reputable source from a questionable one, and how to foster a healthy sense of skepticism about the information that pops up into your life—from your social media feeds to random conversations. Dr. Gunter is an OB/GYN and pain medicine physician and a New York Times columnist. In addition to being both a doctor and a mother, she hosts the TED Audio Collective podcast “Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter”: https://www.ted.com/podcasts/body-stuff-with-dr-jen-gunter We want to know what you think about the podcast! Let us know your thoughts by visiting this link https://survey.prx.org/BetterHuman—and get a chance to be featured in a future episode. To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman
Ted audio collective.
You'Re listening to how to be a better human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
Here's something that I'm pretty sure we all have done before.
You feel a little bit sick, and you go online and google the symptoms.
Now, there is a ton of excellent, reliable medical information on the Internet.
The problem is that there is also a ton of wildly inaccurate, sensational, panic inducing information out there, too.
And look, here's a true story for me.
I recently had a small cut inside of my lip that I got from accidentally biting it.
And so I thought, oh, maybe there's some way that I can make this heal more quickly.
So I went online, and next thing you know, I am convinced that I have an incurable viral infection.
And then because I somehow clicked an unrelated article on this website, now I also think that I have some sort of rare kidney disease and maybe I need to send tissue samples to a doctor.
It was like, deep down this rabbit hole before I stopped myself and realized, hold on, Chris, you have a small cut inside of your lip.
You know how you got it?
You need to chill out.
And on today's episode, our guest is a doctor who spends a huge amount of her time debunking misinformation online and telling people like me to put down the laptop and just walk away.
I have been following her work for years, and I'm a big fan of what she does and how she does it.
Here's Doctor Jen Gunter.
Hi, I'm doctor Jen Gunter, host of the Ted audio collective podcast body stuff and author of the Menopause Manifesto and the Vagina Bible.
I'm sometimes known as Twitter's resident gynecologist.