EDCI Parmis

Hi everyone, Phoebe and I finished our inquiry today and did a whiteboard animation/presentation video podcast using Canva premium. We both hope you enjoy watching as we reflect on our inquiry process and dive into answering our main inquiry question: How does online technology play a role with self diagnosing? 

We experienced a few issues with making the white board animation as it was a new concept to both of us. We watched different tutorial videos on YouTube and ironically Tik Tok to help guide us, which furthermore highlights that technology and social media platforms has some cons but definitely has its pros as well.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable process and every bump in the road taught us new skills and the ability to find solutions to our problems.

References:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Health anxiety. Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Banner Health. (n.d.). TikTok self-diagnoses on the rise: Why it’s harmful.

Columbia University. (n.d.). Understanding algorithms. 

Harvard University. (2025, April 2). Dr. TikTok: The impacts of misinformation on mental health self-diagnosis.

Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2023). Social media and self-diagnosis.

Mathes, B. M., Norr, A. M., Allan, N. P., Albanese, B. J., & Schmidt, N. B. (2018). Cyberchondria: Overlap with health anxiety and unique relations with impairment, quality of life, and service utilization. Psychiatry Research, 261, 204–211. 

Mood & Mind Centre. (n.d.). Self-diagnosing through TikTok. 

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2020). Digital health literacy and its implications.

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2022). ADHD-related content on TikTok

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2023). Digital divide and health literacy.

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2023). Artificial intelligence in healthcare.

National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2025). Future of AI in healthcare systems.

PubMed. (2018). Cyberchondria. 

PubMed. (2015). Effects of online health information. 

Saghafian, S. (n.d.). The analytics behind ChatGPT: Human, algorithm, or centaur?. Harvard University.

Stanford Institute for Human-Centred AI. (n.d.). Social media algorithms and mental health.

University of Chicago. (n.d.). Health information on TikTok. 

University of Colorado Denver. (n.d.). Down the rabbit hole of self-diagnosis in mental health.

University Health. (n.d.). The pros and cons of self-diagnosing online.

Waterloo University. (n.d.). AI’s medical diagnostic skills still need checking.

For this week’s task, step 4, Phoebe and I created a mind map using Canva. This was a very enjoyable process as it allowed us to dig deeper on the unanswered questions we had in a creative way.

Mind Map Sources

Benefits and Risks:

Chat GPT

Tik Tok

Tik Tok

Google

Psychological Effects:

Cyberchondria: “repeated Internet searches regarding medical information result in excessive concerns about physical health.”

Effects on preexisting disorders 

Preexisting disorders

Health Anxiety

Behavioural Effects:

Delay in seeking treatment

Improper treatment

Over-pathologizing normal behaviour 

Step 5

For step 5, we will be creating a whiteboard animation presentation to show what we have learned. The whiteboard animation will be our summary resource to show our learning.

Making a whiteboard animation on Canva premium is something new to us. We hope to develop new skills in regards to video making and editing. We will be making sure to include the principles of multimedia learning since we will be having different visuals and a voice over.

Our goal for this step is to combine all the information we have learned over the last few steps, reflect, and answer our question from step 1 on self diagnosing.

Over the next two weeks we will be completing these tasks:

Week 1:

• Breaking content into 3 sections: ChatGPT, Tik Tok, and Google search
• Pros & cons of each
• Risks
• Benefits

• Include key studies like cognitive offloading and cyberchondria
• Create a outline of our video on google docs
• Create a script that includes platform comparisons, risks, benefits, etc

Week 2:

• Decide what will be said and drawn in each scene
• Build the presentation
• Record VoiceOver
• Sync audio and learn how to edit them together on Canva
• Clean it up: add text highlights, transitions, trim awkward pauses or long scenes, etc
• Post final video on blog

For step 3 of our inquiry project, Phoebe and I have created a set of new questions based on our research in order to help us answer our question on self diagnosing and help us deepen our understanding. We will be using google scholar and the UVIC library database to find articles to help us answer the questions below over the next week.

• Which platform is most likely to spread misinformation about mental health or medical conditions?

• How do algorithms influence what symptoms or disorders users believe they have?

• Does exposure to online mental health info/content increase anxiety or reassurance in users?

• Can self diagnosis lead to a confirmation bias?

• In what ways can online self diagnosis be helpful or empowering?

• Can it encourage people to seek help sooner?

• What are the risks of misdiagnosis through online platforms?

• How can it lead to over diagnosis or unneccesary stress
• Are certain groups more vulnerable

• Should AI tools be responsible for preventing harmful self-diagnosis?

• How might self diagnosis change as AI becomes more advanced?
• Could they replace parts of traditional diagnosis?

• How do influencers on TikTok shape people’s understanding of mental health disorders?

For step 4 we are planning on making a mind map on Canva. For the mind map we will put our findings from step 3 into the categories below:

• pros and cons of each platform and brief overview of what they are
• what effects they have psychologically and behaviourally
• Outcomes, benefits vs risks
• Future outcomes like will AI replace traditional diagnosis…