Just Google It

Just Google It

via TechCrunch

“Just Google it” – three words that have become inseparable from our online information culture, and three words that are increasingly becoming the go-to solution for those of us that are too lazy, broke, cynical or just plain embarrassed to go and see a real doctor. The growing ideology surrounding health, Lewis (2006) explains, is one of self management and personal responsibility. New media empowers us to take charge of our own health, rather than just accepting the doctor’s verdict. Now, while I believe the wealth of experience and advice online is invaluable when it comes to the self-diagnosis and management of basic medical queries, I would argue that health is truly the one area where Google doesn’t have all the answers.

There are some things you should just see a doctor for

Image by Natalie Dee

Online information should be considered as part of a broader approach to health management; an approach that sees the online as a starting point for research and a reference point for discussion with a real doctor. My mother was last year misdiagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. A misdiagnosis made by a highly specialised Neurologist. For me this raises one very significant question. If someone with such expertise can make such a dramatic error, what sort of misinformation can be fed out of an anonymous online profile. There are some instances when “just Google it” really isn’t enough.

References

Lewis, Tania. 2006. Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria? Media, Culture & Society 28 (4): 521-539.

Narrating Me - Both of Me

In my New Media lecture last Friday, I was presented with the following quote:

“Having two identities for yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”
Mark Zuckerberg, cited in Kirkpatrick (2010)

I fundamentally disagree with Zuckerberg on this point.

My own online presence as it has expanded has grown, naturally, into two distinct online identities: the flippant, unguarded self I reveal to my already known contacts on Facebook, and the more carefully narrated, “worldy” and heavily stylised self I share with the unknown audiences of Twitter and the blogosphere.

Both are cultivated from the essence of my identity, but they present a different version, for a different purpose, and in the hope of resonating with a different audience.

Inconsistent? Yes. But lacking integrity? Definitely not.

Dueze (2011) says that “the potential power of people to shape their lives and identities can be found in the assumption that people produce themselves in media.” I agree with this assumption, and believe the online universe affords people the opportunity to explore who they are, who they want to be, and to narrate themselves as the person or persons they would like to be if only there was an edit button in the “real world”.

While Zuckerberg might consider multiple online identities as a show of weakness, I see it as a fantastic opportunity for self-realisation.

References

Dueze, Mark. 2011. Media Life. Media, Culture & Society 33(137).

Kirkpatrick, David. 2010. The Facebook Effect: the Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World. New York: Simon & Schuster.