PARENT COLUMN

I’M NO different to any other parent when it comes to worrying about children and social media. I can’t help but feel that we’ve unleashed a very powerful force and none of us are entirely sure how it will affect us.

However, I also try to see the positive in what is, after all, a wonderful resource and has the power to do so much good.

I saw a small part of this last winter when I was writing a blog post about the spread of Norovirus in schools. Coming from a public health background this is a subject very close to my heart and my kids have had to endure my many lectures on hygiene and infection control.

As part of my research I found a fascinating article on how Tweets relating to symptoms of Norovirus could be used to predict the number of Norovirus cases recorded by Public Health England. The researchers found that 72% of the time, they could predict where the cases would occur. This is so useful for planning and for studying how diseases spread through populations.

As I am a keen Twitter user myself, I found this amazing. Perhaps young people’s use of social media can be useful after all?

I’ve had a quick look at the statistics for this year and it seems that Norovirus reports are down at the moment so it may not be the number one health concern on everyone’s mind. So, I turned my attention to another seasonal infectious disease horror story – and that is flu.

I am now taking part in a study which it is hoped will help the fight against this potentially catastrophic disease. A few days ago, I downloaded the BBC’s pandemic app which simulates a flu outbreak by collecting anonymous data about how we interact and travel. It will enable researchers to predict how a real flu pandemic could affect the UK.

You just have to answer a few basic questions and the app tracks your movements at hourly intervals for 24 hours. You have to leave your phone on and the app. open in the background during that time. At the end you are asked a few more questions. Children under 13 cannot use it but teens of 13 and above can with parental consent.

I think this is such an important study and I’ll be asking my own teens if they would like to take part too. It’s part of a joint initiative by the University of Cambridge and the Londvon School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We are seeing the mass movements of people across the globe in numbers and in ways that we have not seen before. It’s so important that the experts who have the responsibility for controlling these diseases have the information to help them do their jobs.

It’s also a great way for young people using social media to find out more about epidemiology and the way in which public health authorities try to control the spread of disease.

Dr Sharon Parry is a mother of three and a former public health research fellow. She shares useful tips and her experiences of having three daughters in school and university in Wales on her website www.aftertheplayground.com