Text Messaging: the New Wave in Healthcare Technology?

Basically defined as instant message communication from one cellular phone to the next, text messaging is becoming the new "it" technology.

In response to this rapidly advancing trend, SkyScape introduced MedAlert--the first highly specialized, easy-to-use, text messaging medical service, specifically designed for cell phone users. Medical professionals can subscribe to MedAlert (after downloading the program to their Palm OS or Windows Mobile-powered smartphone) and receive regular medical news updates for $1.99/month; the subscriber also has access to instant, complete medical articles, which are sent to an e-mail address simply by replying to the text message.

My question is: Will mobile technology eventually replace personal communication altogether? I realize the convenience factor of up-to-the minute health updates is, well...convenient, but do we need to have access to that kind of information all the time? In our cars? At the gym? While shopping for produce?

Verizon Wireless even pokes fun at themselves regarding this kind of versatile technology with one of their commercials; a family is sitting down to dinner when the father starts sending text messages to his children, asking them to pass the salt or pepper. (Keep in mind they're all within arm's reach of each other). His teenage son rolls his eyes and his wife eventually rips the phone out of his hands. As the audience, naturally we laugh, because it's true. As a society, we have gotten so dependent on technological communication, we are almost afraid of direct contact. At the same time, I suppose there is something refreshing about that kind of quick access to medical information. Imagine never having to converse with your medical colleagues again!

Okay, so maybe it's a slight exaggeration, but consider the distraction element of medical text alerts. You're listening to your GPS system, making that right turn off of 95, while balancing a cup of coffee in your lap and a cigarette* in your left hand. Suddenly, a wind chime noise alerts you to an incoming text message. You are anxious to hear what new drug could potentially ward off obesity, so naturally you reach for your cell phone. In the process, you succeed in not only knocking the coffee all over your freshly pressed pants, dropping the cigarette onto the floormat, and nearly rear-ending the car in front of you, but you are also disappointed that the text is actually from your wife, asking you to stop for milk on your way home.

The point is that technology has already made access to medical information manageable. Now companies like SkyScape are seeking to streamline the process courtesy of the cellular phone, or PDA--a device you probably already own. (There are currently more than 200 million cell phone subscribers nationwide with an average one or more cell phones per household), according to Consumer Reports. So, if you are a busy physician who is always on the move, maybe MedAlert really is the answer for you. And if not, you can access the same information online--a few days later.

*Shame on you doctor!