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Info Attack
"We now get more information in 72 hours than our parents likely received in a month," says David Allen, author of the productivity bestseller Getting Things Done. "Most people don't have the skills to deal with this. They let new things in but don't get rid of old info they wanted to act on."And when physical health is at issue, the flurry of raw info can be life-threatening. That's because patients are researching symptoms online, confronting doctors with reams of printouts and often demanding that their courses of treatment be altered.
Stopping digital misinformation from hurting patients is a new worry for Donna Sweet, MD, professor of internal medicine at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. And it's an extra layer of work added to all the print and electronic material she already reads. "I have a lot of savvy patients," she says, "and their research is helpful. But many others are bringing in dubious information they don't fully understand."
Dr. Sweet goes through it all, trying to educate patients about what they've read. Increasingly, she can't do so in person: Patients e-mail their concerns. She phones most back; the risk of a misunderstood e-mail is too great.
Hasty e-mail exchanges between staffers can also be a minefield, so Dr. Sweet asks them to e-mail her first, before venting to a colleague or administrator, especially after hours. She has found that people who type an angry e-mail, then hit Send, usually regret it later. In the days before instant communication, people had time to calm down, and she's trying to re-create that cooling-off period.
For Griffin Kiritsy, e-mail isn't a big problem.
"I send and receive hundreds of text messages a day but only about ten e-mails," says the University of New Hampshire freshman. Kiritsy feels totally natural being electronically tethered to friends most of the day. A text message is a virtual shoulder tap among his peers; his cell is more of a long-distance intercom than a telephone. Websites aren't just information sources; they're gathering places. Attached to his wireless Sidekick, his fingers are communication appendages he uses with the same forethought he puts into breathing. Hopping on his Xbox 360 and playing Madden NFL against a teen at home in Australia -- and trash-talking him on the console's headset -- is Kiritsy's idea of unwinding between classes. He's on the Net for four hours a day, often generating hundreds of instant messages in a half hour while "talking" to several friends in separate, simultaneous conversations.
But never on a Sunday. "Once a week, I shut off my phone and don't use any electronic gadgets," the 19-year-old says. "I read, play sports, relax and just recharge."
Come Monday, Kiritsy is back to his studies -- between instant messaging and posting comments on friends' Facebook pages, that is. After all, there's no point in being obsessive.
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