The textbook talks about new technologies becoming "impersonal" vehicles of communication. For example, page 362 discusses personal, impersonal and hyperpersonal communication. Page 357 states: "Thus, the so-called 'cues-filtered-out' model has promoted an image of electronic media as impersonal, impoverishing interpersonal relations and reducing the quality of organizational life. Think of examples that support this view."
One example I can think of is in the area of doctor-patient communication. In the distant past, doctors used to visit their patients in the patient's own home, and communicate with them face-to-face on a very personal basis. In the mid-twentieth century, doctors might even converse with their patients over the phone, thus dispensing the face-to-face meeting altogether. But with the advent of emails, the doctor-patient interaction does not happen with immediate effect - it may take the doctor hours if not days to reply to a patient's email. I believe that much of the personal communication with one's doctor has diminished due to reliance upon emails in the medical field. It is no doubt convenient, but lacks the personal comfort that face-to-face communication brings to the patient.
Some doctors also ask the patient to "google" (has happened to me!) in order to learn more about their medical condition. The patient finds out about his or her illness via a medium that has no empathy for their personal situation, which is certainly hard on the emotions of people with serious medical conditions.
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I disagree with the authors' assessment of new communication technologies leading to more impersonal communication. That conclusions is based on an old model of online communication that has been widely criticized. When the precursor to the internet, ARPANET, was developed to help scientists transmit large data sets to each other, it quickly became a way for the scientists to share personal information. So along with the data sets, they'd send a little note about how they were doing and asking about the other person. So humans will use technology in ways that work for them, rather than have the technology determine how we communicate.
New communication technologies have made telemedicine possible--and competent health care is now available to people in remote locations who ordinarily would have to travel long distances for a doctor's visit. I'd much rather be able to email or web chat with my physician for the routine stuff. But now, even if I have quick question, I have to make an appointment with her. And I get all of 5 minutes. So I'm hoping we'll increasingly see the use of new communication tools in the health care setting.
Electronic communication in the field of medicine has had a positive impact on several different aspects of the doctor-patient relationship.
One such area is the virtual office visit in remote geographical locations where personal visits are not always possible, not to mention expensive. My own physician has encouraged me to communicate with him by email when I need a prescription refill or a referral to a specialist.
Electronic medical records can be another application where electronic data communication can efficient and useful. Microsoft recently launched an on-line medical record storage site. A centralized, easily accessible location for records is convenient but raises privacy issues as the laws governing such information have not yet caught up with technology.
Not a long time ago I went to the doctor, and I came home really worried. By the first time in my life a doctor asked me to do exactly the same thing you experienced: do a Google search on this issue!
While this doctor-patient communication style sounds trend; it also rings the bell for lots of concerns. Let’s say you do your “homework on Google”, but still feels in the dark. If you are luck enough to have a very responsive doctor, you might be relatively ok, but if the doctor does not get back to you immediately, and instead, all you receive back is an automatic out of office message – like I did, that is a huge problem.
Situations vary, but on this field, it sounds too risk to blindly rely on technology. When people are going through some health challenges, all that they want and need is to hear immediately that everything is going to be all right…or at least to receive solid guidance on how to become health again ASAP.
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