To Google or Not To Google?

In all aspects of our media lives, we are bombarded with health issues; from the latest detox craze in women's magazines to the reality television show The Biggest Loser, and of course endorsement after endorsement for diet shakes, pills and vitamins. Except now the emphasis is on the individual. My health, my search, my Google.

Goodbye dodgy waiting room couches, screaming children spreading their germs with every uncovered sneeze and year old magazines. Now I can cradle my soup, tissue box at the ready and get my own diagnosis, all with the click of a mouse. But should I? Although the abundance of information has been said to ensure empowerment of the individual, one thing that is not always ensured is its accuracy (Lewis, 2006).

Although I'm definitely not a fan of doctors' surgeries or hospitals, like Jessica in her blog New Media Musings, I'm not convinced that Google has all the answers. So I'll pick a corner in the waiting room, armed with a good book and hand sanitiser at the ready, and I'll wait my turn.

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References:

Lewis, T. (2006). Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria? Media, Culture & Society, volume 28, issue 4: 521-539. 

Shutterstock. "Medical Icons On Computer" Accessed April 10, 2011. http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-60036143/stock-vector-medical-icons-on-computer-keyboard-buttons-original-illustration.html

Just keep swimming...

Poised on the couch with laptop at the ready, a double shot latte and books, papers and magazines galore, you could be mistaken for thinking that this student is about to undertake some serious study. You could not be more wrong. This is me, and this is my afternoon. I am about to write a scene in my Facebook reality. Depending on how my day was, you could be about to consume a romantic comedy, drama or quite possibly a violent horror (depending on how many wedding vendors I've dealt with on that particular day!)

With Deuze (2011) explaining that the media is like an ocean that surrounds us, it could be said that we are no longer sight seeing in our boats, rather, we have jumped ship and dived into the ocean head first. Some might argue that we were pushed, but I think the notion presented by Deuze, that we live inside the media, is more appealing than most people would care to admit.

When else could we write a virtual diary for the world to see, display your entire family life for all to critique and publicly rant and rave about our daily happenings or lack thereof? Not only is our media identity alive and well, it's virtually a social norm to present this 'other' persona for the world to see. This is the media reality, and we are living it.

I like to think of the media as the life jacket we need in this ocean that surrounds us. A life jacket that allows us to blur the lines between real and fake, then and now. A life jacket that will sustain us if we just keep swimming...

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References

Deuze, M. (2011). Media Life. In Media, Culture & Society, Volume 33 (1) pp. 137-148. Accessed April 4, 2011 from http://mcs.sagepub.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/content/33/1/137.full.pdf