Why Social Media and Healthcare are Inextricably Linked

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I keep very busy professionally as a result of rapid change in the world of inbound marketing.  Because buyers, consumers and users are spending so much time communicating and gathering information on their many devices and networks, I have the opportunity to help businesses transform their marketing frame of reference to capitalize on this change.

But the change is not without consequence.  And sometimes the consequences are a bit troubling.  Most parents I know certainly worry about the generational behavior change that is well under way amongst constantly-texting youngsters who can barely keep their attention focused on a conversation through a cup of coffee, never mind a full-blown meal.

In USA Today about four weeks ago, the Olivia Barker wrote of these changes, expanding the lexicon of the brave new world of text messaging, Twitter and  Facebook.

Kenneth Gergen, Swarthmore College professor, uses the term “an absent presence.”  It’s a two-way concept — friends are present via text message or Twitter or Facebook update, if not physically there with you.  On the other hand, my son is definitely only vaguely “there” when he is constantly checking his Blackberry screen to respond to the twice-a-minute messages relating to his evening plans.

We are moving into a “post-human” era, where life becomes more about the abstract world that we have created than about the biological, physical realm we inhabit.  I have certainly been called “sub-human,” and probably deserved it.  But I haven’t spent enough time in church to get very excited about “post-human” life.

Barker writes vividly of “technology’s tether.”  After all of this progress on human and civil rights, now we’re slaves to computers.  Lyndon Johnson is turning over in his grave.

What’s the connection with healthcare reform?  Well, I for one and a proponent of aggressive new TWD statutes.  We all know how thousands are tragically killed each year for DWI — driving while influenced, more and more innocent lives are being lost thanks to texting while driving.  On the occasional four-plus our car trips I take to visit clients and family, I see TWD statute violations at least twice-a-time.  No doubt, IMHO, that TWD drives up healthcare costs.

But the real connection with healthcare is that, with all of these social network-driven interruptions,  I’m going to have to live a lot longer to be able to have all of the conversations I want to have with my children.

Tagged as: Absent presence, Facebook, Healthcare, Healthcare Reform, Kenneth Gergen, New Lexicon, Olivia Barker, SMS Texting, Social network, Swarthmore College, Text messaging, Twitter, USA Today