New year, same old TikTok.
You would think after 2021's often perilous online health trends that the people of the internet would learn a thing or two after all this time. Just kidding, who actually thought that? Luckily, physicians on TikTok are ready to offer advice and dispel stupidity as often as TikTok users are ready to dole it out.
Here's to another year of "wow," "ugh," and "omg" moments. But let's start with great advice from a doctor using TikTok to help save lives.
The Good: Doctor Explains How to Survive Crowd Crush
J. Mack Slaughter, MD, (@drjmackslaughter_md) is an emergency physician who's built his platform by engaging and educating people on TikTok and Instagram. He recently reacted to the tragedy at the Travis Scott Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas, where 10 people died due to a crowd surge. "This isn't the first time this has happened, and it won't be the last," Slaughter captioned his post.
He used a video to spread awareness of how to best react to a crowd surge to his audience of over 368,000 followers, laying out four tips that people can use in case this ever happens to them.
Slaughter's four tips are to (1) keep your arms up in front of you to give your chest as much room between someone in front of you as possible; (2) stay upright in order to avoid collapsing; (3) go with the flow of the crowd's movement to conserve energy; (4) stay away from hard surfaces like walls or barriers "that can't ebb and flow with the crowd."
