Social Media in the Healthcare Context

Another take on using "social media" to support healthcare: Hospital Web Manager Ed Bennett blogs on "hospital crisis communications".

Disconnect or Be Disconnected

Our IT columns are typically about projects, solutions, or topics that affect Healthcare IT.

Today, I am going to take a few moments to hop on a soap box and discuss a topic that has greater ramifications for society as a whole. This topic is our uber-excitement for being connected to all things digital all the time.

In the past it used to be families wasting away in front of a TV set. Even though this is still a problem (an average person will watch nearly 10 years of TV before the age of 65), our cultures obsession with real-time connections to what I call “noise” will be the downfall of our culture and families.

I would ask you to close your eyes, but then you couldn’t continue reading this srticle, so just image for a moment these two scenarios:

1. A parent is driving chirping on the cell phone. This kids are in the back arguing over whether the sky is Blue or Light Blue (doesn’t really matter). The parent turns around and yells at the kids telling them to stop talking, lamenting on the fact that it is rude to talk while someone else is on the phone.
   
2. The kids are getting ready to sit down at a restaurant with the parents. Attached to the ear is a set of 85 decibel music pumping MP3 player (I didn’t use the Apple brand as it might lead to lawsuits). The waiter comes to take the order, and the child barks out their request. Once the orders are taken, then one parent starts responding to e-mail via their phone, and the other is texting away to their BFF (New term for Best Friend Forever. I have kids, they told me all about this short hand). Never once did the parents engage each other or their children.

I could go on and on about scenarios that I have either witnessed or participated in. With an average car ride of 10 minutes, and an average meal at 1 hour, how much opportunity are we wasting in the 18 or so years that the kids are at home. Given that the average family eats out 2 times a week, and drives together roughly 6 times a week for 10 minutes, parents are missing out on over 3700 hours of interaction. These numbers of course are on the light side.

What can a parent do in this extra time? They can let their children know that they matter. They can talk about school, their interests, what is the meaning of life. It simply doesn’t matter. The child will see the connection and the care and know that they matter in the lives of the parent.

With all this connectivity, when we are at work we are thinking about being home. When we are at home we are thinking about work. A study by Nielsen shows that Americans have 34 more unscheduled hours of leisure than they did in the past. The remarkable thing is that more Americans feel that their lives are crammed full and have no time to breathe. My take is that we fill our lives with insignificant things to feel significant. Live a life connected to the present and will bring about the significance you are looking for.

So, remember, if you don’t disconnect the electronic handcuffs, you will be disconnected from those who are important.

So what are some practical applications:

1. When driving turn the cell phone off. Put it in the trunk. You are operating a 3000lb lethal weapon and should not be distracted. By doing that, you put first things first. Operating the lethal weapon with focus and clarity is an important lesson to teach kids
2. Cell phones and audio devices are turned off during dinner. Just 10 years ago, people could wait a few hours for a return call. They can wait today, if you just set that boundary. My friends and co-workers know that I do not answer my cell between 6:00pm and 8:00pm . That is protected family time. Though it doesn’t always work out that I am home, when I am, no one interrupts my family time. Remember, you the individual allow the interruption, not the person calling.
3. Remember what it was like to be a kid. Take the kids to the park, go for a bike ride, take a walk. Connect with them. Kids aren’t looking for an iPod, they really want urTouch!
4. Focus on work at work. Focus on family when at home. I gave up finally and asked my wife to be in charge of dinner. A 10 minute call at the end of the day to discuss what is for dinner was disruptive. Setup a meal schedule, or choose who makes the selection. This allows me to keep focused at work, and gives my wife the freedom to cook what she has time to cook (I clean up the house - It is just the system we have).
5. Turn off the TV. Go a week without TV and you will be shocked how much you will learn about your friends and family. Stew, our bunny, ate through the TV power cable. It took just over a week to get the replacement part. What a quiet and relaxing time in our home.
6. Turn it off by 10pm. Sleep deprivation due to our perceived need to be connected is taking years off our life, adding inches to our bellies, and leaving our souls empty. To achieve this, we DVR everything or get the shows via DVD and watch them in their entirety at the end of the season. All of the shows my wife and I enjoy are on Monday nights. We DVR them and watch them throughout the week. Turn off your phones as well if your job permits.
7. Visit an online science, math or Biology website. Get a few experiments and do them with your kids. A great place to start is http://www.grandadscience.com/. There you will find experiments that you can do with kids from items found around the house.

Hopefully you have found this information useful. It is important that we pass along our values to the next generation. I pray that our values are not ones of disconnectedness and apathy. These simple ideas may not work for your household. Find a happy median that works and sustains your family.