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Just be careful of fake news on your way through. 

By: Muhammad Sikandar Ali Chaudary

. Get rich by building an audience

. Media users receive news from influencer journalists

. Verify news from influencer journalists

Post memes, record pranks, produce TikTok videos or be a fashionista on any social media platform to get followed by hundreds of thousands of people. No college degree or national identity card is required to be an influencer and make enormous amount of money. This has not only democratized entertainment production and distribution but also news. 

Do users receive news from influencers? 

A seven-nation survey conducted by Northwestern University in Qatar in collaboration with Harrison polls revealed that 81 percent of the respondents in Qatar get news and information from social media influencers. Additionally, 27 percent of the participants agreed that they get news and information from social media influencers at least once a day.  This places Qatar just behind Saudi Arabia in the MENA region, where 92 percent of the participants generally receive news from social media influencers and 32 percent agreed that they get news via social media celebrities at least once a day. It is followed by UAE (78 percent), Jordan (57 percent), Lebanon and Tunisia (52 percent) and Egypt (42 perecnt). 

Is every influencer trained to deliver news? 

This raises certain ethical questions. Is your friend next door with 1000 followers on Instagram authorized enough to deliver news?  The other day an influencer was doing a live session on Instagram about climate change being a hoax. No one could stop tick tock celebrities to purport that God has plagued Chinese with coronavirus because they were torturing Uighur Muslims.

How considerate are social media influencers to verify information before communicating it to the public? What are the levels of fact checking and are they aware of journalistic standards of objectivity, neutrality, fairness etc.?

 You might as well come across hyped up or one-sided news on topic ranging from politics to entertainment news. Do we need a regulatory framework? 

What can Qatar do amid social media chaos? 

Most countries, including Qatar, haven’t implemented a regulatory framework for influencer journalists yet. However, Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani added a new law, Article 136 bis, in the Qatar Penal Code that deemed the publication of fake news illegal among other things. Right groups, including Amnesty International, has labelled the recent fake news law as repressive. The law stipulates that “anyone who broadcasts, publishes, or republishes false or biased rumors, statements, or news, or inflammatory propaganda, domestically or abroad, with the intent to harm national interests, stir up public opinion, or infringe on the social system or the public system of the state” would be imprisoned for five years and levied fines up to $25, 000. 

 Here, the most important question is to ask ourselves whether we should wait for the government authorities to formulate new laws for the virtual world as a deterrent measure or take the responsibility ourselves to double check the information we are receiving? 

The most recommended solutions

Christine Heenan, who served in the White House as senior policy analyst and speechwriter in the Clinton administration, advised students during a talk at Northwestern University in Qatar that real responsibility lies with the general users to double check the information. “The iPhone has completely changed the world,” she said. “It is responsibility of the user to ensure the credibility of the information.”

Academics also believe that media user’s digital literacy and ability to detect deception is more important than any external regulations. According to Venus Jin, Professor in Residence at Northwestern University in Qatar with a specialization in influencer marketing, fake news generators (sources) will lose their credibility and eventually will not survive the marketbecause the truthfulness of news is a vital indicator for its sustainability. “Objective truthfulness of the contents is an important mediator in determining the effects of online news on media users’ perception of source credibility, trust, and behavioral intention to share the news”, she said. 

The bottom up approach of empowering media user with the skillset to differentiate between real and fake news is mandatory to eliminate the latter. However, the question is who will take this responsibility? 

The old-fashioned hardcopy textbooks are preferred by Professor Khaled Al-Hroub, a political science professor at Northwestern University in Qatar, who thinks that it is easier to remain on track and be able to communicate thoroughly the ideas of the book by writing notes and highlighting points.   

eBooks are an online soft copy of a book that can be easily interacted with. These types of books allow highlighting and comments to be added onto the book as well as sometimes provide interactive tools to make education and the learning process faster and easier.

Hroub mentions that eBooks are found to be more convenient on the educational side since they are easy to email and order. He also says that the ordering and shipment process of eBooks are much easier and more convenient since no one has to deal with large number of packages and such. “There are so many pros to eBooks, one has to admit,” Al-Hroub added mentioning that a person could travel with a tablet where there can be an unlimited amount of eBooks which makes it more convenient in terms of accessing them all wherever one can be. However, he still prefers hardcopy books due to the process of one reading it and that it was scientifically proven that people can absorb information much faster and easier when in contact with a hardcopy of a book. 

He mentions that he does not have a concrete view, yet, this is just his personal taste. He adds saying, “most of the books I read, I generate some dialogue with them by writing notes on them and generating questions.”

Professor Khaled Al-Hroub also adds saying, “as a professor, ebooks are useful, useful to handle, useful to be emailed and dealt with,” which makes it more handy for students too yet it depends on the student and what their learning preferences are. In terms of technology, he agrees that this is such a useful and helpful innovation and technological development yet it does not always and necessarily add to the betterment of the educational nature in a classroom. However, professor Al-Hroub adds on saying, “from a pragmatic perspective as a professor, this would minimize the excuses of them not receiving the books yet, etc.”

A couple of students gave different aspects and perspectives on their idea of the pros and cons of eBooks. Many of them found it less practical because they find traditional hardcopy books to be easier to deal with when it comes to studying or revising because of the ‘dialogue’ that can occur with the traditional book, which professor Hroub prefers.

Even though universities implement eBooks, some universities do not like it. Dana Mahmoud, a senior student at Northwestern University in Qatar, says “I took a lot of classes where eBooks were available or were the only option to use but I struggled a lot when it came to studying for quizzes or exams.” Due to the dialogue that cannot occur with eBooks, Mahmoud justifies that this makes it difficult to absorb information in a fast way. Mahmoud adds, “I would have to take notes on my notebook and refer to the page which I took this information from which makes it much less convenient to me during exams because this wastes a lot of my time and energy, too.”

On the contrary, Dana Hassan who is a junior student at Northwestern University in Qatar says that she prefers eBooks because she would not have to carry heavy books all around the university which causes her severe back pain. Hassan says, “I am very thankful for the invention of eBooks because not only did it make it more convenient for me, but it also made me feel more organized where I can highlight and add notes in the same place which makes it more organizing.” 

Hassan thinks that forgetting books at home is a very often thing to happen yet when it comes to eBooks, it can be easily accessed on the laptop which is carried all around the university on a daily basis with her. “I would not have to carry books when I have a class that provides eBooks which I find more convenient. I think I easily learn from eBooks too because I sometimes find it more interactive than the usual traditional hardcopy books.”

Wijdan Al Khateeb, a senior student at Northwestern University in Qatar says that she did not experience any class that had a mandatory eBook which she finds saddening. “I wish I was able to experience eBooks and see how they work because I never took a class that actually has eBooks provided.” Although she did not experience this new trend yet she thinks it would be very interesting and easy to handle because “it is much easier to just carry a laptop than loads of books at one time,” Al Khateeb adds.

• Research finds that overeating is caused by brain connection, a hormone called MCH.
• An increase in the MCH is responsible for impulsive behaviors such as gambling, addiction and overeating.
• This new discovery hopes to contribute to therapy, as an alternative method to lose weight.

New Research

Fitbit? MyFitnessPal? These apps may no longer be necessary to fight obesity. New research finds an alternative method, therapy.

The research from the University of Georgia links overeating, formally known as binge eating disorder, to an increase in Melanin Concentrated Hormone (MCH) production in the brain. This hormone is responsible for impulsive behaviors, causing a lack of self-control when it comes to eating, leading to obesity.

Meaning that, if you find yourself finishing the popcorn before the movie starts do not blame hunger.

So, overeating is not a cheat meal that you decided that you can have once a week. Impulsivity is a decision that does not take into consideration the consequences of the action.

Even with the technology available at our fingertips, almost half of the Qatari population suffers from obesity, according to the latest Qatar Biobank annual report, a medical research facility based in Qatar Foundation that focuses on studying obesity, diabetes, and cancer. These obesity rates are not slowing down in Qatar or anywhere in the world, says Tamara Al-Abdi, an adjunct Psychology professor at Virginia Common Wealth University in Qatar, who also teaches Nutritional Science at Qatar University.

If left untreated, obesity can have long-term effects on people’s health putting people at a greater risk of developing heart diseases, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, according to Stanford Health care.

As none of these methods prove to be effective enough to solve the obesity epidemic, researchers turn to new approaches to tackle obesity, Al-Abdi adds.

That’s why, in the last two years, researchers focused on a psychological approach to treat obesity as a mental health issue, says Al-Abdi. The research published in the journal Nature Communications tested on lab rats that were trained to push the lever every 20 seconds to get food at the beginning. However, after increasing their MCH levels through injection, researchers found that rats grew impatient and started to push the lever several times, demanding food. Researchers hypothesize similar effects of impulsiveness in humans, which can explain overeating.

Though at its early stages, this knowledge in this research might contribute in the future to an alternative approach which is developing treatments such as therapy to control the hormone responsible for impulsivity, according to the study.

Using this would help therapists is to understand the emotions that trigger a person’s response to overeat and try to eliminate them and controlling their bad habits, says Al-Abdi.

Societal and Social Media Pressure on Body Image

Emotional eating also plays a big role in Omar Fakharany’s struggle to lose weight.

“When I am bored or feeling depressed, sometimes you just want something to make happy, by eating,” says the 21-year-old university student.

From the age of seven, Fakharany recalls always having an unhealthy relationship with his body image. In hopes of mending that relationship, he tried several methods of weight loss such as going on the keto diet, speaking to a nutritionist and exercising throughout his teen years but ultimately failed.

“Every time I felt like a method didn’t work, I changed. So, it was very inconsistent. When I felt demotivated I go back to my old habits”, says Fakharany.

It is a monthly task for Fakharany to search for new ways to lose weight because of the pressure from society. “When you are obese, it affects your interactions with other people because they assume you are lazy,” he adds.

But, the pressure from society does not stop there, it extends onto social media. As Fakharany, scrolls through his Instagram feed, he finds himself surrounded by people taking pictures of their toned bodies.

One must remind themselves that social media does not reflect reality. “Social media is a world of perfection where people can edit their bodies and faces to look a certain way,” says Meerna Muhanna, a clinical dietitian. 

Marta, a personal coach, explains that social pressure encourages people to try unsustainable methods of losing weight. In other words, diets that work in the short term, but in the long term will make the body lose out on important nutrition.

Health Fad or Diet?

The methods that Fakharany tried such as the Keto Diet are called health fads. Their only purpose is to give you immediate results because they are based on restricting calories. The initial weight loss from these diets come from water weight instead of fats, says AlAbdi.

So, it is important to keep in mind that no healthy diet will let you lose one kilogram per week. Instead, a healthy diet should include the correct balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Although it will be a slower process, it will ensure that the body has the right nutrients for long-term effects, says Muhanna.