What Does This Button Do?

As a 20-something who thinks that the term "floppy drive" is arcane, it is easy for me to jump on board the train known as E-health.

E-health or electronic health refers to the new style of communication that involves the use of the internet. While I can log onto WebMD, give myself a diagnosis, and in the near future probably begin to prescribe my own medications; what happens to the baby boomers who did not grow up in the electronic age?


Hart County has a large elderly population. Looking through various statistics for the county one can't help but wonder how this new wave of health information will get to the older population.

My grandmother is one of those people who refuses to learn how to use the internet and only uses here cell phone for dire emergencies. I remember being a teenager and she still had a rotary phone. It would be hilarious to see her trying to diagnose herself using WebMD.

My mother loves the internet, but when she first used WebMD because she had a persistent cough results said that she had, sinusitis or brain cancer. I exaggerate a little, but using a self-diagnosis tool can be difficult without the proper knowledge. It sometimes encourages people to not seek doctors opinions until things get more severe.

As more information becomes conveyed electronically and the average age of US citizens increases it will be interesting to see how websites develop in order to increase accessibility for older adults.