Professor of Prevention and Community Health
Lorien Abroms
George Washington University
Lorien Abroms is a professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Abroms focuses on the intersection of digital communication technologies and health promotion, with an emphasis of developing new applications and ensuring that existing ones are health promoting.
Area of Expertise: Privacy and Surveillance
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Abroms, L. C. (2019). Public Health in the Era of Social Media. American Journal of Public Health, 109(Suppl 2), S130–S131.
Abstract: Social media platforms have become part of the fabric of American life. Most Americans use social media and check their accounts at least daily. As public health professionals, we need to better understand the positive and negative health implications of social media use. These concerns go beyond protecting the public’s privacy, which is the focus of current regulatory efforts. Just as we have shaped the built environment by legislating the inclusion of sidewalks to increase the walkability of new neighborhoods, we also must consider the structure of our social media environments and find ways to alter them to be health promoting.
