We live in a time where people’s attention spans are shorter than ever. We want instant gratification. And whether we want to believe it or not, social media is a large part of many people’s everyday lives.
Whether they’re on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or other platforms, Americans spend an average of 2 hours, 24 minutes per day on social media. This is nearly 48% of the total amount of time people in the United States spend online every day.1
The Evolution of Social Media
When I went to paramedic school in the early 2000s, social media did not exist in its current form. The information we were taught was traditional classroom-and textbook-based. Any great educator will tell you that, especially in the ever-changing healthcare profession, at least some of the information printed in a textbook is outdated by the time it hits the shelves.
Fast forward to today. While EMS education programs and continuing education programs still use the traditional model of education (which is still considered best practice), social media has become a platform for educators and influencers to provide their point of view.
Pros and Cons
Today’s students and professionals can learn from interesting graphics and videos edited into fast-paced, one-to-two-minute shorts that are linked to longer discussions and lessons.
While this puts them at an advantage as new and up-to-date information can be dispersed rapidly and extensively, it can also create great disadvantages.
Anybody can create a social media account. And anybody can create content with whatever information they wish to provide. This creates significant opportunities for incorrect, biased, and at times dangerous information to be disseminated.
To get “likes” or “followers,” people often post off-color humor, inside jokes, and other forms of potentially offensive, inappropriate or otherwise unacceptable content.
Social Media as a Learning or Teaching Tool
So how do we, as EMS professionals, know which content we can trust? How can we decide what to listen to? How can we recognize what we can learn from, versus the information that we should scroll past and unfollow?
Besides the obvious, here are a few steps everyone should take before incorporating information from social media into learning, practice or instruction.
- Research the creator. Read their profile and see what their purpose is. Visit the creator’s LinkedIn page and find out where they work and what their role is. Have they been a volunteer EMT at a small local agency for six months and are now trying to capitalize on social media? Are they an EMS educator at a major hospital or university? Learn their story and what they are about. This should be your first step.
- Verify their credentials. Any professional certification or credential can be verified by the issuing agency. Do they claim to be an FP-C, CCP-P, CEN, CFRN, etc.? Unfortunately, many content creators use credentials like “flight medic” or “certified emergency nurse.” Then when you look the credentials up, they don’t exist. The same goes for instructional and educational credentials. Look for creators who are educators or in positions where they have a role that involves clinical or educational oversight. But proceed with caution: A person may have a seemingly long list of post-nominals, but that does not make them a content or subject matter expert.
- Look for references and citations in their content. True educators will never take credit for another person’s work. When you’re considering who to follow, look for creators who provide reference links within the descriptions or comments of their posts. And be on the lookout for actual quotes from peer-reviewed and published studies or data to support the content they’re discussing.
- Check out who follows them. Consider it a good sign if their followers include several leaders and well-respected individuals in the profession.
Finding Balance
Social media certainly has a wealth of knowledge to offer. I follow several content creators in EMS and EMS education on social media platforms. And I have used many of the topics I have seen on social media in my teaching.
It’s important to remember that in the EMS profession, we are bound by our protocols and scopes of practice. Just because you saw something on social media that was accurate, cutting edge, peer reviewed, and from a valid source, does not mean you should immediately add it to your practice or teaching.
If anything, as a profession, we should use this kind of information as a starting point for conversations with medical directors and other stakeholders to further our education and clinical practice.
Reference
1. Kemp, S. (2024, January 31). The time we spend on social media. DATAREPORTAL. Retrieved December 4, 2024, from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2024-deep-dive-the-time-we-spend-on-social-media
