“The Doctor Will Text You Now”: Most of Us Are Okay with Virtual Doctor’s Visits, Study Shows

In survey results released this week by Cisco, 75 percent of respondents said they’re totally cool with using technology (i.e., video chatting, text messaging, etc.) to talk to their doctor instead of physically meeting with him in the office.

Yes, you read that correctly. While consumers still depend heavily on in-person medical treatments, the study found that most of us would rather send a few texts to our doc about our symptoms and conditions rather than schedule an actual, in-person appointment.

Which leads me to my deep, philosophical question for the day: What does this say about us and our technology dependence? Is it just that this is an easier and more convenient way to communicate (not to mention cheaper, assuming your doc doesn’t bill your insurance company per word)? Or is this one more step down the rabbit hole of lost human-to-human contact that we’ll never get back?

And I have a technical question, too: Let’s say we did adopt a text-a-doc model for health care—would you still have to schedule an appointment to text your doc, or are their phones fair game 24/7?

You tell me in the comments section below. (According to this study, you probably don’t want to talk to me in person, anyway, right?)

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