My sister spent a lot of time in the airport this holiday. In one airport there was an ad by some computer-type company that was showing all the ways their company/product was making the world better.
She sent me a photo she took of part of the ad and wanted to know what I thought. Here’s the photo: 
What do I think? In a word: BS. Maybe BS isn’t a word, but you get the idea, dudes.
I think computer stuff can make it so that doctors can give eachother patient information all over the world, and doctors can put in there the personality of patients so that other doctors know. But other than that, has the world forgotten what knowing someone personally means?
Knowing someone personally means that you know them. Personally.
People I Know Personally:
My wife
My daughters
My mom
My extended family
My coworkers
Friends in my city
Highschool classmates
People I Cannot Possibly Know Personally:
A doctor I’ve never seen
A person I’ve never seen
Bloggers I’ve never seen
My sister’s friends in her city
Extended family I’ve never seen
It’s cool and all that doctors can share patient information with the internet and stuff, but they can’t claim to personally know patients they’ve never seen. That goes against what it means to know someone personally!
Corporate America trying to tell us what it means to know someone…. Man, it sucks.
Being in advertising myself, I hate seeing ads like that. I get what they’re trying to say but they completely missed the boat on it.
John S@ Frugal Rules recently posted..Three Ways Advertising Companies Tempt You to Forsake Frugality
Yeah, that’s what I think! I’m not dumb, I get it, but it’s not right.
Sadly healthcare is moving to performance based payments…and by advertising like this is it giving us the false sense of security that they really care about us deep down…no…the payment structures are now set up value based purchasing…they want the provider to get it right…and get it right the first time…
Not sure I understand what performance based payments are exactly. I definitely agree about advertising trying to make us feel like they really care about us, haha, yeah right!
While I agree with your overall premise, I don’t think you necessarily have to occupy the same physical space with a person to know them personally. I have online friends that probably know me as well, if not better, than most of my “real-world” friends!
Edward Antrobus recently posted..How to Avoid DirecTV moving fees
Ok I guess, but how long have the online people “known” you? With this online doctor thing, it sounds like you never interact with the doctor in any way, and they think they know us. You do probably know your online friends better than this online doctor advertisement, if only because at least you interact with your online friends!
Yes. I meant to talk about interaction, but it seems I got distracted. That is the key to knowing someone, in my mind, is interacting with them.
Edward Antrobus recently posted..How to Avoid DirecTV moving fees
Ugh…that’s a horrible ad!
The Happy Homeowner recently posted..Yes, My Boyfriend is Paying Me Rent
Glad we agree
This is just more about a bigger problem around the world. We no longer know each other anymore. We rely on what facebook tells us and what we read on the internet. Most people don’t even know how to be social anymore. It is truly sad!
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I didn’t bring that up or go that far, but it’s true! People don’t seem to know how to be social in person anymore, man, it’s all about online image and little tweets and facebook messages that are meaningless. Good point, man
I totally agree but you know what? It works. If advertising didn’t work, no matter how crappy and untrue, it wouldn’t rule the world the way it does. Most people, unfortunately, don’t have the wits about them to devise how untrue it may be.
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Yeah I guess. ANd it’s pretty sad then that it works like that.
Great post and I totally agree. We are becoming more and more disconnected. We rely on mediums now to keep us connected like email, facebook etc. We don’t phone we text etc. It is really a sad state of affairs. I think the next generation is going to reap the negative effects from this.
Miss T @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter recently posted..How To Recover From A Home Fire
I think so too, and it’s really too bad. I try to make sure my girls hang out with their friends for real and join sports and we send them to summer camps… my wife and me do that becuase that’s what we did as kids, but actually, it’s probably a good way to fight all this ‘disconnected’ stuff too.
Very true TB. Something is right with this picture and with my doctor knowing me personally. I don’t want to know my Dr. personally, I just want him to help make me well.
Jason Clayton | frugalhabits recently posted..13 More Side Business Ideas – You Can Start Today
That’s a good point too, man!
Jason, you don’t need a doctor’s help to make you well.
tVM recently posted..Martin Sheen: A Hero who Broke Through
I agree with you, that makes no sense and is a bad ad, I wonder how no one caught that before it got distributed!
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Technology gives the impression that you know someone just because you have exchanged some emails. In my day, I know that sounds so old, I would form a relationship with people. That takes time and effort. I live in southern California, where everything is superficial. A place where the supermarket clerk exchange pleasantries as though they know you, but do not wait for your response. Social media is growing, but it should supplement personal relationships.
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I couldn’t agree more. We are fast becoming computer-generated data; the human connection is less and less as time goes on. Strangers pretend to know us simply by this lifeless information.
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That’s a really bad ad. I don’t think I would ever want my doctor to know me “personally.” Yes I want to physically see my doctor face to face in their office, but I certainly don’t want them jotting up notes about my personality and such in my file.
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That is actually kind’ve creepy and weird. I don’t want doctors I don’t know to know me “personally!”
Holly@ClubThrifty recently posted..Horrific Financial Advice from the New York Times
I love that. Do I WANT every doctor to know me personally? “Hey, that Joe guy’s gotta weird mole on his back. Remember that guy?” Pass.
The only real companies that know me are Dr. Pepper and Disney. They love me. Everyone else is pretending.
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You are spot on, Blue Collar Workman, and on multiple fronts. 1) It sucks that ‘corporate America’ tries to tell John Q Public what it means to know some one, 2) Corporate America in general sucks across the board, and 3) Healthcare — more appropriately sickcare — is all about money. I so despise the FACT that sickcare has greatly extended the average lifespan, i.e., it keeps a persons heart beating longer, BUT at what cost? The quality of life for most elderly people is unenviable. In my next life, I’d prefer to take my chances as a dog even though humans have screwed their lives up as well.
yeah.. they aren’t going to know you PERSONALLY unless you develop a relationship over a period of time.. i *do* think that this is a worthwhile thing to do, btw. you should go talk to your doctor at least 1-2 times p/year, even if you aren’t sick, for a routine checkup and just to foster that relationship
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I do hate the ad, man!
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So interesting. Edward Antrobus might have it right. I mean, look at the whole Manti Te’o thing…you know that kid out of Notre Dame. I am a high school teacher and I asked my students about knowing someone online and considering them to be close to you. They agreed that it was possible. But a doc reading a spreadsheet on you probably does not qualify…unless you friended him on Twitter (or wherever you ‘friend’ people)…..:)