Digitalized world and carbon footprints: does digitalization really matter for sustainable environment?

There is a growing demand for energy to support economic and social development. There will be many shifts in the energy sector as a result of digitization. Hence, we aim analyzing the linkage between digitalization and environment sustainability by incorporating energy consumption as a moderating factor using data of UK from 1990 to 2020. Different dimensions of digitalization are used as explanatory variables, ecological and carbon footprints are used as outcomes and energy consumption is used as moderator. The findings of autoregressive distributed lag model show that internet users and technological advancement (fixed telephone subscription and mobile cellular) are negatively (positively) linked with ecological and carbon footprints. Energy consumption causes to enhance ecological and carbon footprints and plays an antagonistic role in the nexus of internet users, technological advancement, and ecological and carbon footprints. The effects of mobile cellular and fixed telephone subscription have increased in the presence of energy consumption as moderator which exhibits that energy consumption plays an enhancing role in the links between mobile cellular, fixed telephone subscription and ecological and carbon footprints. The results underscore the importance of taking a holistic approach to addressing the environmental impact of digital technologies. By promoting sustainable communication practices and investing in the development of more energy-efficient technologies, practitioners, managers, and society as a whole can work together to reduce the carbon and ecological footprints of digital technologies and create a more sustainable future for all.

Carbon neutrality challenges in Belt and Road countries: what factors can contribute to CO2 emissions mitigation?

As climate warming is intensifying, CO2 emission reduction has aroused the great attention of many governments and scholars. Compared with traditional industrial times, the influencing system of CO2 emission in modern society has taken great changes due to technological advancement, improvement in energy efficiency, and the popularity of the internet. But the current literature has not reached a consensus on this theme. Our study tends to investigate the nexus between international trade, international trade taxes, energy intensity, internet usage, renewable energy, and CO2 emission while incorporating income levels by using the data from Belt and Road countries in the 2008-2020 period. For this purpose, we applied the unit root test, CSD, Granger causality test, AMG, CCMG, and CS-ARDL methods. The results show that energy efficiency, GDP, and internet use have significantly negative effects on CO2 emission, while GDP has significant positive impacts on CO2 emission. By classifying 65 countries along Belt and Road into four groups of low-income level, low-middle income level, upper-middle income level, and a high-income level, the regional heterogeneities of influencing factors of CO2 emission is confirmed. Furthermore, this empirical study provides new insights to policymakers to reduce CO2 emissions through technology innovation, international cooperation, and human capital investment without deteriorating economic growth.

The quality and reliability analysis of YouTube videos about insulin resistance

AIM

There is an increasing trend in the use of internet as a search tool for health-related informations. Insulin resistance is one of the most searched subjects online and some of the videos about insulin resistance have been watched by millions of YouTube users. This study aims to determine the quality and reliability of the most popular videos about insulin resistance on YouTube.

METHODS

On March 1, 2022, the term "insulin resistance" was searched on YouTube. The videos' popularity was assessed with Video Power Index (VPI). The quality and reliability were assessed with DISCERN score, modified DISCERN score and global quality score (GQS).

RESULTS

A total of 100 most popular videos were evaluated after applying the exclusion criteria. Fifty-four percent of the videos were very poor-poor, 35 % moderate, and 11 % good-excellent quality. Although few in number, the videos with relatively higher quality and more reliable had higher numbers of views, likes and comments (p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between DISCERN score and VPI, duration, view, like, dislike, comment numbers of the videos (p < 0.01). Healthcare providers uploaded 58 % of the videos, while independent users uploaded 42 %. Video like ratio (VLR) at healthcare providers' videos was significantly higher than independent users' videos (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the high viewing rates of YouTube videos about insulin resistance, the overall quality and reliability were found to be very low. However, when high quality content regarding popular medical topics is produced, more people can be informed correctly.

The information needs of internet users and their requirements for online health information-A scoping review of qualitative and quantitative studies

OBJECTIVE

This scoping review has been conducted to summarise the information needs of internet users and their requirements for online health information.

METHODS

We searched MEDLINE, Web of Science and Scopus up to July 2019. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed-method studies were included and a thematic synthesis with category formation and exact description of the items was carried out.

RESULTS

118 studies were included. To address all users' needs mentioned in the included studies, we grouped them into nine main categories: authority, comprehension, currency, evidence-based information, exchange with others, independence, purpose, services, user experience. The evaluation showed that website users wanted qualifications of authors to be cited. Users preferred health information that offered interactive elements and resources for relatives, whilst also providing an opportunity for online contact with others. The ease with which information was accessed and the intelligibility of texts were regarded as being very important to users.

CONCLUSION

Given the rapid evolvement and changes of online health information, it is crucial to provide up to date insights and a comprehensive overview of the range of criteria.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

With the results obtained through this scoping review, the creators of online health information could be assisted in providing user-specific resources.