A disturbing number of TikTok videos about autism include claims that are “patently false,” study finds

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 434 points –
A disturbing number of TikTok videos about autism include claims that are "patently false," study finds
psypost.org

A disturbing number of TikTok videos about autism include claims that are “patently false,” study finds::A recent study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found that a significant majority (73%) of informational videos on TikTok tagged with "#Autism" contain inaccurate or overgeneralized information about autism. Despite the prevalence of misinformation, these videos have amassed billions of views, highlighting the potential for widespread misconceptions about autism on the platform. ...

82

You are viewing a single comment

It disturbs me that people would consider TikTok an accurate source of....anything.

The bar is so low. I remember my old roommates from Uni. If there was any disagreement about a thing, they’d whip out their phone, find any article that remotely supports their claim and that was it. You’re wrong. A case in point was using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher (I told them all not to). They couldn’t really find anything on Google so they just said it was fine.

The future looks as bright as mud.

Fact checking. Never heard of it.

I had someone yesterday claim I was wrong about a pretty complicated scientific thing but they were vague and didn't say why I was wrong.

I have a background in that topic, so it only took a second to find a scientific study to back me up...

They immediately replied with an article that had nothing to do with what anyone was talking about, and when I told them that, they refused to explain what was relevant, called me rude, and blocked me.

Their mind was made up, and they just picked the first result off whatever they googled and assumed it backed them up.

Idiots "doing their own research" rarely works out well, they're not trying to learn anything, just win an argument they don't understand

By the way, I've seen Google displaying halucinated AI written articles as the main, highlited result.

Yep, ask Google something like "water causes covid" and you'll likely get some idiot saying water causing COVID because that matches your search.

Do you happen to remember the search query? This is very interesting

This is perpetuated by some shitty internet personalities too.

"You will NEVER believe it, this study peer reviewed paper TOTALY DEBUNKS !!!"

(links to a paper that indicates the exact opposite of that)

Sounds about right Glares in existential horror at flat earthers

just win an argument

That's the problem.

We humans have goals, as in "satisfaction from winning", or as in "solace from reaching some idea the correct way so it'd likely be true".

Theirs is not to be correct, it's to defeat you, to win, to dominate etc.

A conversation where your counterpart see themselves as your opponent just should end once you see that. Also it would be fair to inform them that this is ape behavior, but sometimes unwise sadly.

Also the approach that an argument as in "opposition to each other" leads to truth is more or less the same thing as dialectics. And dialectics do not have any scientific value (we are not pursuing studies of "scientific communism" here).

As someone who remembers the days before the internet, that's 1000x better than our method of just believing whoever seemed the most sure. We weren't running down to the library 10 times a day to find quality sources for information, we just didn't know things. When did that person die? Who knows. Is it safe to mix these chemicals? Try it and see.

Old wives tales and superstition were responsible for at least 60% of all decision making.

I don’t know about this. Not knowing is better than knowing wrong things imo. The internet has made too many idiots, not smarter, but just more sure of their idiocy.

Stupid people still believe in stupid things, that's not changed, the difference now is there is a sea of reputable sources for smart people.

It's amazing how many times my mum comes out with something that I look up and it's an old wives tale that has half the data right but exaggerates the consequences to an insane degree. The other day it was because she was moaning at my old man about puttin half full tins back in the fridge to finish the next day. She was convinced metal can oxidise and leech into the food, which is true, if you leave the can in there open for about a year, lol.

using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher

At least that's a mistake they'll (probably) only make once.

I admire your optimism.

Sorry, what's the problem with dishwasher soap? Isn't it meant to be specifically used in a dishwasher? Or does "regular dishwashing soap" refer to detergent? Sorry, I am just confused.

OP meant regular washing-up detergent. It's usually sold as "super-concentrated" so if you put it in a dishwasher the agitation and extra water make a LOT of foam. Usually it will start to pour out of the machine and make a massive mess.

There's soap for hand wash, "dish soap".

Then there's "dishwashing detergent" that goes in dishwashers.

"Dish soap" is made to make bubbles when hand washing, but it in a machine and you'll have a foam party

Reminds me of the time that I desperately needed to make a latte but discovered I was out of milk. Rather than doing the smart thing and giving up I searched online to find out if sour cream can somehow be used as a substitute.

Turns out you can’t trust a single article in a sea of emptiness

It's the way search engines work.

Phrase a question wrong, and you'll get shitty results that agree.

Like Google "what causes an upset stomach" would probably give good results. Google "water causes upset stomach" because you think water causes it, and you'll get results about water causing an upset stomach. Even if that's not the cause in your situation

I once subbed ghee for butter when making icing for a cake. My logic was that ghee is just clarified butter. That may be true, but it tasted awful. I'm worried now that this comment will somehow find its way into an AI nugget recommending ghee as a butter substitute. It isn't! Don't do it! (Delicious for curries though.)

You can swap between the two for most baking if the it’s going to be paired with a lot of flavour. Pizza dough, naan, etc. But as a base for something, yeah, I wouldn’t 😆

Exactly. A lot of savoury flavour. Not sweet, never sweet. The icing was ginger, the spice didn't help.

As I understand it, one could use butter as a creamer substitute, but I don't drink coffee, and I doubt that you could make a latte with it, just based on my culinary experience.

A case in point was using reg dishwashing soap in a dishwasher (I told them all not to). They couldn’t really find anything on Google so they just said it was fine.

The good thing about that particular misapprehension is that it is very quickly self correcting.

LOL - sink dish soap in the dishwasher!

I have made that error once... Lucy, you got some 'splainin' to do!

I don't need the "splainin', but I ain't cleaning that up, especially if I already warned you what would happen

1 more...

It's an increasingly popular first search goto for basic research for a lot of people. YouTube was like that for a long time in the same way Amazon is for product searches.

Not a great trend.

It's disturbed me for the last decade or two to see people increasingly posting YouTube videos as sources for information. I don't see how TikTok is any worse.

Find me a better source of information on defense economics than Perun. He is considered the pinnacle unless you want to wade through multi-hundred long pages of heavily redacted DoD reports yourself.

The fact is, long-form YouTube content has the ability to be incredibly informative in a way that purely short-form TikToks cannot.

1 more...

I feel Sturgeon's pain. Was just in an old book shop that had every genre imaginable including even cookbooks and weird old junk books about the paranormal and casting spells, trashy romance stuff, old historical records, all sorts of random crap. I asked if there were any science fiction or fantasy books. Owner of store: no we don't stock that stuff, we only stock things of literary value.

Alright buddy, geeze. Yeah no sicence fiction or fantasy of any literary value was ever written I guess.

2 more...