Health Care at the touch of a screen.

Mobile devices have opened doors that some years ago we never thought possible. What we saw on 90’s sci-fi movies is, to some extent, the way we actually live our every day. Apart from the evident purpose of a device like a mobile phone as to communicating with someone else there are many new and different uses to it that make a whole new world out of such a small object.

We have discussed in previous commentaries terms such as ‘unplugging’ or ‘digital detox’ to reclaim some of the power that we are entitled to have over the media and the technologies that we use as opposed to them having power over us. There are however, some technologies that dig deeper into this concern and propose a way to actually take good care of our wellbeing by creating tools that we can use through the technologies that we live with. Such is the case ‘self-tracking’ technologies. Ruckenstein (2015) gives us a detailed study as to how these technologies are aids for health professionals to help treating certain conditions. By using devices to track and store personal information about eating habits, times, meals consumed, hours of sleep, etc it is possible to create an accurate case with facts that can be very useful in treating a patient. It is not as easy as it sounds; care organizations are still reluctant to use these devices given the fact that this sensible information is stored in third parties’ servers which could even lead to legal issues.

On the other hand, there is the recurring issue of inequality. Developed countries have been immersed in these technologies for a period of time now and can benefit from it to an extent. However, developing countries and more so their small communities still face issues with even getting proper medical service, let alone the use of something that they could not even start to understand. O’mara (2010) explains how even within these communities, inequality persists. Factors such as age or gender greatly influence the reception towards these technologies. Most of the young people have access to the internet and are therefore more prone to understand how ICT could be useful for them in terms of wellbeing and health. Older people on the other hand are presented with terms that don’t make sense to them.

‘Self-Tracking’ and ‘Quantified Self’ are indeed terms that are starting to sound more and more. Some of us even use their technologies in our day to day life without knowing the extensive spectrum behind it. Just like we have discussed in previous papers, it is not all about the technology itself but about the content, and this is yet another example for that.