Does Technology Rule Your Life?

Rewards and risks of cell phones, pagers, computers and MP3 players

Erin of Whitehall is wired to the max, using technology to keep connected to family, friends and school.

Your Community, Your Hospital

People who live in rural areas don’t always have access to vital health care services. At Lehigh Valley Hospital, we’re using technology not only to improve care in the hospital but also to reach more people in outlying areas. This year our “tele-intensivists” monitored more than 4,000 critically ill or injured patients, using sophisticated video and communication technology. And our maternal-fetal medicine (high-risk childbirth) staff electronically read more than 3,500 off-site fetal ultrasound tests. Thanks to this technology, expectant mothers in rural communities didn’t have to travel long distances to have their results read by a specialist. Want details? Click here.

You’re out to dinner with the family, and your cell phone rings. You know it’s the office. Should you answer it and upset your family, or ignore it and jeopardize your job? “Deciding how to respond to technology has become, for some people, a major personal issue,” says Donald Levick, M.D., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network physician liaison for information services.

Sure, cell phones and e-mail make it easy to communicate and keep tabs on your loved ones. But overusing these high-tech gadgets can negatively impact your health and personal relationships. “You need time away from technology,” says Levick’s colleague, licensed social worker Brett Williamson. “We’re social beings. We need to interact face-to-face.”

Here’s how to make the most (and avoid the worst) of what technology has to offer:

E-mail—It frees you from being physically stuck in the office, but e-mail also can plant you in a chair for long periods. “Computers contribute to a sedentary lifestyle,” Williamson says. Instead of sending an e-mail at work, when possible get up and go talk to your colleague.

E-mail also blurs the line between work and private life. “Checking work e-mail from home can increase stress and damage relationships,” Levick says. Your colleagues will expect you to be on-call constantly, and your loved ones will feel that you don’t have time for them. “It’s important to keep these expectations in balance,” he says.

The Internet—Like e-mail, the Internet opens up worlds of knowledge and connection to others. But it also opens up risks, for children and adults. Because they’re spending more time mouse-clicking than playing outdoors, the number of overweight children has doubled in the last 20 years. Limit your children’s computer time and place computers where you can monitor them. Pay close attention to their online contacts, especially in chat rooms and communities like MySpace.com, which attract predators.

Adults are not immune to the temptations of computer games or Web activities. They can isolate you for vast amounts of time, and a sedentary lifestyle is risky for adults, too.

Cell phones/pagers—Today, almost everyone is immediately accessible by cell phone, pager or wireless handheld device. If your job allows, Williamson suggests shutting them off while spending time with family. “The voicemails will be there tomorrow,” he says. Another option: put technology to work for you by assigning different ringtones to different callers so you can screen your calls.

Using a cell phone while driving increases your risk for car accidents. It’s unsafe and against the law in many states, including New Jersey.

MP3 players—These portable music-players are a fun way to motivate yourself to exercise. Just be careful. “You can’t hear your environment, so you’re less aware of what’s going on around you,” Levick says.

Want to Know More about cell phone etiquette. Click above. About educational video games and protecting your child from online predators? Click on the links in the column on the right side of this page.

ARTICLE TOOLS: