How to Teach Teenagers Health Literacy in the Age of Online Influencers

Teenagers (ages 13 to 18) spend more than seven hours per day on screen media for entertainment — that’s excluding time used for school and homework. Children ages 8 to 12 spend more than four hours doing the same, according to a 2019 Common Sense Media survey.

This screen time includes browsing social media, chatting with friends, watching videos, and gaming. The media have always been a source of information for young people, said Beth Lanning, associate professor for Baylor University’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences. “It’s just the new medium through which they receive information.”

154 minutes

The average time spent per day among teenagers who use HVSM.

However, adolescents today have access to more content than in previous years, including information about their health. Making health information more accessible means a more educated population, Lanning said, but the immediacy of the internet poses a risk for the viral spread of misinformation.

“The thing that is difficult with this generation is how fast something can get out of hand,” she said.

To help prevent the health risks that may be associated with misinformation teenagers receive online, parents and other adults, from educators and athletic coaches, can play a pivotal role in guiding youths to be critical of the online content they consume.

Teenagers today spend a significant amount of time online. In an Adweek infographic on the habits of Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012), 95% of those surveyed said they consumed content on YouTube regularly and 69% said they used Instagram with a similar frequency.

The research also explored the role of online content distributors (i.e., social media influencers). An influencer is an individual who creates digital content and has secured a large following on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and others.

Going back to that infographic on the habits of Generation Z, respondents said they trust social media influencers as much as, and sometimes more than, traditional celebrities.

This may be due in part to the way influencers interact with their audiences. By creating short videos on YouTube and TikTok and sharing posts on Instagram, creators can engage directly with their followers.

While these are mostly one-sided relationships, some teenagers feel a sense of community and develop a sort of trust with the influencers they follow, a personal connection known as parasocial interaction. Because teenagers are likely to have these relationships with social media influencers, it is important to make sure they have the media literacy skills to be critical of the content they consume.

Body image issues can be influenced by a variety of factors. Research has shown that perceptions of weight are one factor that can put children and teenagers at risk.

Researchers examining weight status and body image perceptions in adolescents noted that greater body mass index (BMI) is associated with heightened weight concerns in both boys and girls. Likewise, they found that having a greater BMI during adolescence strongly predicts body dissatisfaction in young adulthood.

The issue of reducing obesity rates among children and adults is an intense public health focus. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity is associated with multiple health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, Type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

According to Lanning, messages around the connection between weight and health can lead to misinformation and, by extension, body image issues.

“We’re very concerned about obesity, but … I think we need to be careful that the message doesn’t become that only thin people are healthy,” Lanning said.

Perceptions of what body types are considered healthy paired with the highly visual component of social media can contribute to negative body image issues among adolescents.

For example, one study examining the effects of social media use among male and female adolescents indicated that students who engaged in frequent use (more than two hours a day) of highly visual social media (HVSM) such as Instagram reported significantly higher body image concerns and internalizing symptoms than their peers who did not engage with HVSM.

A 2018 study found that approximately 88% of teenage girls and 77% of teenage boys use highly visual social media (HVSM). Among teenagers who use HVSM, the average time spent per day is 154 minutes.

Go to a tabular version of “Highly Visual Social Media Use Among Teenagers.”

With a heighted focus on personal image among social media influencers, children and teenagers may feel compelled to emulate the celebrities they follow to achieve their perceived image of health.

Among the vast landscape of content created by social media influencers, there is a significant number of videos, blogs, and photos focused on topics related to health and wellness. A quick search on YouTube for “what I eat in a day” or “my workout routine” provides an endless scroll of results.

This type of content may serve as a helpful resource for many individuals but can be dangerous for younger people who do not have strong media literacy or health literacy skills.

Many social media influencers who promote a healthy lifestyle as part of their personal brand may put out regular content about topics ranging from clean eating — a diet free from processed items and focused whole, natural foods — to natural beauty and skin care products.

Online content has also become a means of making a profit for many social media influencers. Brands partner with individuals who have large followings to promote health and wellness products, such as vitamin supplements, “detox” teas and weight loss products.

The potential problem lies in an individual’s ability to assess the credibility of this type of content, as well as their knowledge on how to safely apply health information to meet their personal needs.

Teenagers who engage with HVSM more than

two hours

 a day are more likely to have body image concerns and internalizing symptoms, such as anxiety.

In a U.K. study of the health information shared by influencers, researchers found that only one out of the nine most popular bloggers studied met the criteria for transparency, evidence-based references, trustworthiness and adherence to nutritional guidance, and bias.

Lanning said this can be problematic when a social media influencer has a body type associated with being healthy.

“Just because a celebrity has a personal trainer and a personal chef [who] does all their cooking doesn’t mean that they’re an expert on nutrition,” she said. “Kids will think, ‘If I do that, if I use this special cleansing diet, then that’s the way I’m going to look.’”

In addition to the risk of taking in misinformation, children and teenagers may lack the knowledge to understand that diets, exercise, and other health practices affect individuals differently and should be cleared by a clinician.

“If you’ve got a child who is overweight and could [have] borderline Type 2 diabetes … they could really hurt themselves,” Lanning said.

Along with teaching children and teenagers how to be critical of media and health information, several organizations are taking steps to reduce the harm of misinformation in health and wellness content online.

The ability for younger individuals be more critical of the health and wellness content they consume online lies at the intersection of health literacy and media literacy.

Health literacy

“is the ability to take health information and utilize it in a health care system or in connection with the decisions one makes about their health.”

— Beth Lanning, associate professor for Baylor University’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences

Media literacy

“is the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, and create media in a variety of forms.”

—The Center for Media Literacy

Together, these skill sets can help teenagers “to be critical consumers instead of just being consumers of health information,” Lanning said.

The focus on building these skills has become more relevant for adolescents, as they are increasingly turning to the internet for health information, according to a paper on the challenges and opportunities for health literacy in adolescents. The researchers stressed the importance of functional literacy (e.g., knowing a medical term for search purposes), critical literacy (e.g., identifying credible sources), and interactive literacy (e.g., transferring learned information to appropriate health behaviors).

Parents can serve as guides for children and teenagers on how to consume health content responsibly. A 2019 study showed that active use of social media by parents led them to significantly mediate social media influencers’ effects on their children. Health literate adults have the opportunity to help young people learn how to think critically and have influence over how they see themselves.

Lanning provided some advice for facilitating dialogue to help teenagers build media literacy and health literacy skills and guide them in making smarter choices based on the content they consume.

Media Literacy: Checklist for Assessing Health Content

To help adolescents become more critical of the media they consume, encourage them to ask the following questions about health and wellness content.

Is this post a paid promotion?

What brand or organization is behind the product? How is this piece of content trying to make you feel?

Is this social media influencer a trusted expert on the topic?

Do they have credentials or formal training on the topic (i.e., Are they a physician? Do they have a license in nutrition?)

Does the person creating the content provide sources for the information they are sharing?

For example, do they provide links to articles or research in the description of the video? Are they from a reputable source, such as a peer-reviewed journal?

Do any of the claims they make feel far-fetched?

For example, if a product being promoted by a social media influencer promises instant results, it is probably too good to be true.

Does the content promote a one-size-fits-all solution?

Every individual is different and will have varying responses to diet changes, fitness routines, and health and wellness products.

The following section contains tabular data from the graphics in this post.

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Citation for this content: The MPH online program from Baylor University’s Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences