Health

At the beginning of 2011 I had the chance to spend five weeks in South Korea. It was a fantastic experience.

Towards the end of my trip I found myself on the slopes of ‘Phoenix Park’, one of Korea’s leading ski resorts, with a couple of friends and a snowboard. Which was great… up until the point where I broke my collarbone.

Just so it’s clear. I can’t speak Korean, and pretty much all the staff in the ski medical center couldn’t speak English. Which posed a bit of a problem.

Somewhere in the midst of pointing at my shoulder and trying to indicate ‘broken’ with my remaining good hand I had a thought.

I pulled out my iPhone and typed into Google – “broken collarbone”.

I soon figured out that my injury was a ‘broken clavicle’ and that the only real treatment was a sling and rest. The kind gentleman in the medical centre provided the sling, and I was on my way back to Seoul.

Lewis (2006) discusses the information revolution in regards to Medical science. Noting both the practical benefits as well as the professional concerns regarding authenticity.

Personally, I think people have the ability to recognise when a health problem is so severe a doctor should be seen; and in extreme situations it’s much better to be able to research for yourself then just leave the problem untouched.

References:

Cluet, J. 2005. Broken Collarbone. Last Modified November 25, 2005. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/brokenbones/a/collarbone.htm

Eclansky. 2009. "Skiing @ Phoenix Park outside Seoul." Youtube Video, posted January 17. Accessed April 10, 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enra2m-nhoE&feature=related

Lewis, T. 2006. Seeking Health Information on the Internet: Lifestyle Choice or Bad Attack of Cyberchondria. In Media, Culture and Society. 28: 521

What Media?

Amongst a myriad of academic hyperbole, Deuze (2011), in his recent exploration of media theory raises some pretty fascinating points.

He suggests that "as media becomes pervasive and ubiquitous, forming the building blocks for our constant remix of the categories of everyday life (the public and the private, the local and the global, the individual and the collective), they become invisible." (Deuze 2011)

Ultimately, he suggests that Media is becoming invisible.

I personally struggled with this thought at first, but the more I contemplate it the more it seems to make sense.

In 1572, the greatest University library of the world (Queens College at Cambridge), had a mere 199 books in its entire catalog. Compare this to over 300,000 books being published every year today (Beck & Davenport 2001).

Printed literature is now such an everyday part of our lives, it's hard to imagine a time when books were hard to come by. In fact we really just take their existence for granted.

Essentially, the media that we now consume is becoming such an integral part of our everyday lives that it's becoming harder and harder to say that either could exist without the other. I barely even notice when I check my facebook on my iPhone these days. As time goes on, who knows? Maybe media really will be so deeply ingrained in our lives that it is invisible.


For some more thoughts on the topic check out Platform Nine and Three Quarters


References:
Beck, J. & Davenport, H. 2001. The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business. Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Deuze, M. 2011. Media Life in Media, Culture & Society. 2011 33: 137. DOI: 10.1177/0163443710386518