In the age of technology, mobile terminals are becoming more and more important in our lives, and accordingly a study recently, 31% of mobile phone owners look for medical information directly from their own device. The figure is double that recorded in the same period of 2010 and if you look at the image above, you will notice that women generate the most searches, and people aged between 18 and 29 are the most active in this field.
One in three cell phone owners (31%) have used their phone to look for health information. In a comparable, national survey conducted two years ago, 17% of cell phone owners had used their phones to look for health advice. Smartphone owners lead this activity: 52% gather health information on their phones, compared with 6% of non-smartphone owners. Cell phone owners who are Latino, African American, between the ages of 18-49, or hold a college degree are also more likely to gather health information this way.
The study was conducted on 3000 Americans and half of the smartphone owners admitted that they search on their own terminals. Practically using Google or other search engines, you can find any kind of information about almost any kind of disease, but self-diagnosis is not and will not be a very good idea. This study still reminds me of Orange Bloggers Bus Tour and the visit to Orange Labs where I saw system DocPal, an interactive system that allows you to make your own diagnoses and contact a doctor for medical treatment.
I believe that the future of modern medicine lies in systems of this kind, it remains to be seen how quickly doctors will adapt to these systems. Do you use the mobile terminal to search for information about various symptoms, or do you go to the doctor?
