HAWMC Day 23: Technology

I am slightly behind but it has been a long couple of weeks. I have a little time to catch up so here goes...

Today's Day 23 task for WEGO Health's Health Activist Writer's Challenge is to talk about technology. How do I use it? How does it fit into my life? How does it help deal with lymphoma? and How would my life change if there were more or less social media involved?

This is actually something I have been thinking a lot about recently. There is always a pros and cons list to everything. Which makes it difficult to decide if technology is a good thing or a bad thing.

How do I use technology and social media?

Well I use it to get information. Information all kinds, I might need some ideas of projects to do in my classroom or looking for a new restaurant to try. In relation to lymphoma I used it during treatment to gain information about the different drugs, and after to connect with others through forums/chats. For my general health I use technology to keep track of my activities through facebook and daily mile. I also use it to be connected to others as a mean of support for both them and myself. As for my daily life I will fully admit I am a technology addict! I can't tell you how many times a day I check my email or how times I am on facebook or twitter. There are some days where I think about disconnecting myself but I some how am never able to do it.

How does technology and social media fit into my life?

All too easily I must admit. I have noticed that I have very little patients for things. Our world is so fast paced that we all seem to be conditioned to that instant gratification. I know for myself I communicate largely through email and waiting for a response is often the most annoying part of my day. But then again I also know people may not have the kind of access to their email as I do. This is something I am actively trying to work on, delaying my instant gratification for sure!

How does technology help deal with lymphoma?

I find it funny that this topic comes up this week because this has been one hell of week. I had just been complaining about how frustrating it is for my past lymphoma to constantly be coming back to haunt me. I know that sounds like something that should be expected but for some reason it was not for me. It seems every time I have to see a doctor (specifically if it happens to be a specialist) for something entirely unrelated to cancer/lymphoma it some how always seems to come back around to it anyway. But as far as technology is concerned it is usually very helpful in this aspect because rather than waiting a significant amount of time to get results or be able to consult my oncologist I am able to do that a lot faster. I recently had an MRI of my hip done for some pain I had been having. I wasn't able to get an appointment until three weeks after the MRI. Luckily I was able to not only get a copy of the MRI and radiology report but the doctor also emailed me his interpretations. Which then of course lead to me having to consult my oncologist based on some abnormality they found (which is not an abnormality for me). When come to dealing directly with lymphoma technology and social media are extremely helpful because they not only give me realitivly quick access to my doctors and medical record/test results but it also gives me access to people. I can communicate updates with friends and family a lot easier through facebook/twitter/email. I can reach more people by using my blog and then of course there are all the ways to get support through forums, websites as well as the hospital. Technology really does put the world at your finger tips.

How would my life changes if there were more or less social media involved?

Hhhmmm this is a hard one to answer. There are times were the current status of social media often makes me feel overwhelmed. Like I can't keep up with everything I would like to accomplish through social media in addition to everyday life. But I think less social media would take some time to get used to but in the end wouldn't necessarily be an overly bad thing. At first it would be like going though withdrawal but we would all adjust. I am sure I would fill the time I use currently on social media with other things which may or may not be good choices. Either way it would be an adjustment.