Is Social Media the New Doctor?

Are people starting to use social media instead of taking a trip to the doctor? According to chapter five of our textbook, the answer is yes! Our text states that 34% of Americans turn to social media for health research, 20% of these online health researchers choosing Wikipedia as their so called “doctor”. This surprising number is supposed to increase as social media becomes more popular. It is said that researching medical information online can eliminate the potential awkwardness of going to someone face-to-face and discussing medical issues. Want to know another surprising fact? The people looking for medical advice online are not teenagers! Believe it or not the average age of users looking for medical information online is 37!

I personally love this topic. I think it is necessary to discuss these things when bringing up the subject of social media because EVERYONE DOES IT! I have a headache for more than two days and I find myself Googling symptoms. And although almost everything I type in leads to death, I still find myself doing it the next time I feel an odd pain or itch.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this section of the book. My first reaction was that people are crazy, but when I really thought about it, it is extremely common today. People would rather Google their symptoms and get advice from Wikipedia than drive to their doctor. The purpose of this reading is to show how widely used social media is. Not only are we sharing our day-to-day thoughts and activities, but now we are also sharing medical experiences. People feel like they can trust their friends and so called neighbors on social media sites, so much so that they will research information regarding health.

Although I agree with the fact that people research medical information online more frequently than they used to, I do not think if there was a serious health concern people would choose what they see online over an actual physician’s advice. I just hope that the average person realizes that anyone in the world can edit sites such as Wikipedia. So my advice to you ---- Say a prayer that you’re not taking medical advice online from a drunken sailor, oh and see a doctor!