Man, I am dog-tired today. Without boring you to death with my life's trivialities, let's just say that one of my "real life duties" is to be the caretaker of a couple of old folks. This involves trips to various doctors several times a week. And with one of the old folks being wheelchair-bound and unable to fend for herself, a trip out of doors is a major undertaking. Today was one of those days for me.
Now, I don't know if you've noticed, but over the years, a visit to a doctor has become almost useless. You sit in the waiting room for about half an hour or more, and then go sit in an office for another 20 minutes or so, and finally the doctor shows up. The doc says hello, how are you, looks in your eyes, or touches your throat, writes a script and before you can blink an eye, you're out of there. So, with the driving time back and forth, you spend about an hour and a half or more preparing to see the doctor and about 5 minutes of actual face-to-face doctor time. During that time with the doc, what really gets done? Not much. A short conversation and a prescription, usually.
Why, oh why, does all this have to take place, here, in the year 2006? Sure, I can understand the need to actually see a doctor face-to-face once a year or so, or in major situations, but this every week checkup time thing is wearing on my nerves. Frankly, a simple phone call would suffice in many cases. But, with the "wonderful world wide web" that we have these days, why can't we utilize it for office visits now and then?
If someone has the proper equipment, such as a webcam, many of these visits could be done online with minimal muss and fuss. And if, after the doc has given an online exam, he or she feels it is necessary to schedule an in-office appointment, fine, no problem.
This is just one of the many things that I think could be better served via the Internet than is currently available. For example, Amazon just started delivering groceries. Heck, people have been trying to do that for years. About 10 years ago (I think, who remembers that far back?) I used to order groceries online when I lived in San Francisco. That company (I can't remember who it was) went bust, but I loved the convenience. Again, sometimes a trip to the grocery store is necessary, but often, it simply isn't. A can of beans is a can of beans, after all. I really don't need to touch it in person to decide if I want to buy it.
I mean, really, people, not everything needs to be hands-on anymore. Let's utilize some of the amazing technology that's already out there, so we can get on with our lives, eh?
End of rant...back to your regularly scheduled programming...