Rx: TikTok Health Advice

Are health professionals on TikTok worth your time? When can Internet advice be helpful, and when should you step away and into a hospital?

By: Srihita Raju

I’m 19, and I still hate calling to schedule a doctor’s appointment. I don’t really mind talking to people on the phone, but something about having to schedule an appointment is more daunting to me than going in for the appointment itself. Especially when I’m scheduling more than a check up, because the last thing I want to do when I’m not feeling well is tell a stranger my symptoms over the phone. 

So instead, I Google it and find answers from strangers online. 

With TikTok being such a massive platform, many health care professionals have moved their marketing tactics onto the app. You can find therapists giving coping advice, gastroenterologists giving nutritional advice, dermatologists describing the best ingredients to fight acne, and pretty much anything else you might need. Having these types of videos easily available can be great for young people who are too embarrassed to ask for help or for giving advice that might be helpful in the future. 

Of course, there are drawbacks. For one, unless you do some research of your own, you have no idea whether the advice is good or not. It can be hard to check the credentials of the person who made the video, and even if they are listed, who knows if they’re really who they say they are? And we are all so different that something that is prescribed might not work or might be bad for you. 

Going onto TikTok for advice could also make you feel worse. Social media addiction is a real problem, and when you’re sick or need help with your mental health, one of the worst things you can do is spend all of your time scrolling on your phone. Most of the time you’ll just feel worse, and you’ll probably forget what you were looking for in the first place. 

While online health professional TikTok pages may be helpful every now and then, it is important to remember that at the end of the day, nothing is going to successfully replace talking to a health professional IRL.