Is the Internet a Secret Weapon to Combat Chronic Illness

While the internet has no real healing power, and it is surely not the silver bullet to our present-day healthcare crisis, it is a place where people go to dig for information about health related topics and leveraging the internet is a great public relations campaign strategy.  However, for people with chronic diseases the internet is a two-edged sword. Research tells us that “U.S. adults living with chronic disease are significantly less likely than healthy adults to have access to the internet (62% vs. 81%).”

In a presentation I will be giving to the IU School of Medicine Department of Public Health, we will be looking closely at this gap and take a look at the future of social media and online health content.