Is social media making vulnerable young people sick? Some neurologists are concerned about a mysterious outbreak of tic-like disorders among young people. The patients are typically adolescent girls presenting with involuntary movement and vocalisations, akin to Tourette Syndrome. But could the explanation be right in our pockets? In this short documentary American-born sociologist Robert E. Bartholomew suggests that mass psychogenic illness spread through social media could be the cause; a rare phenomenon where groups under stress become sick simply by witnessing others with symptoms.
Is it all in your head? No: the symptoms are as real as any condition out there. People are suffering.– Sociologist Robert E Bartholomew, in this documentary
Made with funding from NZ On Air, alongside the NZ Film Commission and Te Māngai Pāho
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