Social networking in health care: surgeons and their patients.

iPods, iPads, iTunes, I-this, and I-that. Sometimes, a mouthful of all these ‘‘Is’’ makes me want to say that I-can’t-keep-up. In our world of technology, it is difficult to know where to turn next given all the changes. Once upon a time, someone had to explain to me what ‘‘www’’ meant. Others then began to ask whether I had an e-mail account and whether I actually read the mail delivered to it. I must have at least 3 e-mail accounts by now. I find people asking me about blogs, Myspace, and Facebook. Should I feel inadequate if I am not ready for Facebook yet? How does the Wizard of Oz expression go? ‘‘Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore.’’ It seems the social networks just keep growing, too. Now, I visit YouTube, Twitter, Linkedln, and SharePoint. We also have major universities creating the ‘‘Open University’’ project and podcasts for education. What are all these new derivatives of the e-world? Who is creating all of this? Have you ever seen two collegiates, side by side, each on his or her mobile phone, thumbs pecking away, texting one another? By now, if my grandfather were alive watching this exchange, he would wonder whether we had failed as parents. Smartphones and computer terminals everywhere---don’t people just talk to one another? Perhaps the confusion about social networks might be how blacksmiths must have felt when Henry Ford pulled up in a new auto without a horse pulling the load. The blacksmiths must have laughed at Henry when they considered the need for gasoline or autos stuck in the mud on a rainy day. We know how that story ended.