More and more young people are not using contraception because of misinformation they pick up from social media, a sexual health expert has warned.
Dr Ronan Daly is a Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Rotunda Hospital and works with the ‘Debunking Myths Programme’ that educates school pupils on sexual health.
On The Pat Kenny Show, Dr Daly said that condom use in particular has plummeted in recent years.
“In 2018, there was a report published which showed the health behaviours of school age children,” he explained.
“There was 22% of young people reporting that they weren’t using contraception when having sex.
“That’s gone up to 34% from the last available one in 2022.”
Dr Daly continued that many young people worry that using contraception might have a negative impact on their fertility.
“We asked the students at our programme about what was a normal cycle or did they think that contraception was going to have a big impact on fertility and a lot of them did,” he said.
“About 60% of them did think that using forms of hormonal contraception would impact on their fertility longer-term.
“So, those myths are still present, even though we know that is not the case.
“Hormonal contraception is safe, it doesn’t have a life long or lasting impact on getting pregnant in the future.”
Social media
Dr Daly said far too many teenagers are getting their information from social media platforms or AI sourced content.
He added that much of this is “not really sexual health education” and created only to generate likes and views.
The result is many teenagers believe using cycle trackers will help them avoid getting pregnant.
It is not something that Dr Daly recommends.
“Particularly in young people… they may have irregular cycles, they may have variable fertility windows, that is much less reliable and less effective as a form of contraception,” he said.
“That’s definitely something that could impact significantly on their health.”
Accurate information on STIs and how to reduce your chance of getting pregnant is available from the HSE.
Main image: A young man holding a condom. Picture by: Alamy.com.
