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Do we read to much

  • Thread starter Thread starter AnnieC
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AnnieC

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How much do you goggle and read on the internet about things...reviews, reports and studies etc... and how much does it influence you in what you do. When there are both good and bad reports about something ..which is practically everything... what do you tend to believe most the good report or the bad one. Can the internet make us so paranoid that we feel we have to research everything before we can make a decision as to what to do in our lives.
 
I regard the Internet as a very positive thing. OK, I've been in IT as a career so I've been using email and the web since the 80s but it is so fast and efficient that you can acquire knowledge from multiple sources very quickly to compare and use and you get to know the reliable sources. I found it absolutely vital to acquire IT knowledge in my job and still do for my work as a volunteer; the diabetes aspect is 'merely' an extension of it's use. I'm able to resist becoming paranoid about suspicious health symptoms; perhaps some others can't cope with that? Yes, I guess most of our family and work decisions are now made with the help of the Internet but previously it would have been advice from others based on Old Wives Tales or so-called or expensive professionals. It's empowering!
 
im not a great reader of studies, i do tend to have a little look at anything that crops up on the net especially medical stuff though, i reckon knowledge can only be a good thing, as you say opinions do differ a lot so its a case of deciding which to believe, i do always try to look at responses to reports made by real people, a bit like when looking to buy something i tend to give more credence to the reviews than the advert of a product, but without the internet i don't think i would have controlled db anywhere near as well so its all good imo
 
Sometimes yes AnnieC, the internet can be a wonderful thing(like finding this site ;). But it can also be the worse place, to. And tbh I don't use use to make decisions in my life, yes I will read up on things to make an informed decision, but I then talk to those close family members and go from their. Like when I was offered a cell transplant I spoke with my dr. By the next time I saw him I had researched (using google etc). And I looked at the pro's and con's and spoken with my family and when I saw him, next he asked again about the transplant and I said, well why can't we try a pump. Which is where I am today. Sometimes you can research/read to much, and go into over load mode.
 
Good question. I agree with much of what Andy says, without the web my diabetes control and knowledge would be worse and I also tend to switch off from scientific reports and studies. The possible negative side is you can get confused and even misled by information overload and conflicting ideas. My wife loves the internet and every time she gets a blemish or an ache somewhere, she Googles it. Results can differ from indigestion all the way up to cancer ! So, much like diabetes, it's an individual thing. Some can manage to filter out the **** and find an answer whilst others latch onto the first page that pops up.
 
Knowledge is Power. What you do with that knowledge and how much of it you believe, is a personal choice. I GOOGLE a lot, it's a huge wealth of information not just for academic papers, which I'm not really in to, but for general info and basic stuff, such as How to? or Where can I buy? Sometimes I wonder how many people ask questions on here instead of Googling for the answers themselves :)
Geri
 
I agree the internet is a great thing and I probably could not live without it now...and that is coming from a silver surfer....I am 74 have been using a computer for about 20 years mostly for recreational purposes...ie craft groups and family history research...I am prediabetic so joined I this forum to learn more about diabetes and it is very helpful so I will not be completely in the dark if I do develop the full blown thing. I don't feel that I want to research everything written about diabetes or anything else simply because there is always the good and the bad about everything so how can we possibly know what to believe
 
Reading on the internet is like talking to the man in the pub. It all depends on what you read or who you talk to. There is still a good deal of that old americanism - 'if it's on TV, it must be true'. We used to have thast attitude in the UK too, 'it's true, I read it in the papers'. At least, time shows that people do learn to be more critical.

Anyways, must dash, have an interesting business deal with this guy who emailed me from Nigeria to attend to.
 
mo1905 said:
Good question. I agree with much of what Andy says, without the web my diabetes control and knowledge would be worse and I also tend to switch off from scientific reports and studies. The possible negative side is you can get confused and even misled by information overload and conflicting ideas. My wife loves the internet and every time she gets a blemish or an ache somewhere, she Googles it. Results can differ from indigestion all the way up to cancer ! So, much like diabetes, it's an individual thing. Some can manage to filter out the **** and find an answer whilst others latch onto the first page that pops up.
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I agree with you there it can be a bad thing to look up everything like medical symptoms you can believe you have every disease know to man doing that and like you I really don't want to read all the scientific reports because as you say there is so much conflicting information so just what can we believe. Practically every day we read in the news of some study usually done in the US about something that is bad for us then the next week another study says the same thing is good for us so how can you possibly believe any of it
 
Beachbag said:
Knowledge is Power. What you do with that knowledge and how much of it you believe, is a personal choice. I GOOGLE a lot, it's a huge wealth of information not just for academic papers, which I'm not really in to, but for general info and basic stuff, such as How to? or Where can I buy? Sometimes I wonder how many people ask questions on here instead of Googling for the answers themselves :)
Geri
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Yes of course I am into the basic internet searches but not the scientific ones as there is so much conflicting information how do we seperate the reliable from as Mo1905 said the ****
 
I Google all the time for answers to questions I have, especially medical ones. However, I am very aware that information has to be sifted through very carefully. There is a lot of out of date stuff on the internet, and even more stuff that is just plain wrong. It has to be used with great care.

There is a tendency to "believe what you want to believe" because it makes you feel better, and this can be counter-productive.
 
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If I am looking to purchase something then the internet is where I go first. I will read customer reviews, Which reports and the like before making a decision. I will also look for the best price. This saves me traipsing around all the shops that sell this particular product. This also applies to clothes and some stores do customer reviews which helps.
An example with the clothes might be that reviews suggest you need a larger/smaller size than you usually buy.


If your question is about diabetes related articles then you will find that if it suits a person's beliefs then they will take it on board.
Newspapers have a tendency to write headlines about studies that will grab the reader's attention but if they put a reference to the actual study it can be a different article altogether as newspapers rely on spin.

Another thing is articles about mice being used to get results. People will decry mouse studies unless, once again, it agrees with their personal beliefs.

There are some interesting studies that this NHS website dissects to come up with a better rationale.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/NewsIndex.aspx


They explain how half of health news is spun.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/about-behind-the-headlines.aspx

How to avoid miracle cures and medicine scams
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Pharmacy/Pages/Miraclecures.aspx

Miracle foods and the media.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/02February/Pages/miracle-foods-special-report.aspx

I could read a report that says that my particular way of managing my diabetes does not work and will cause health worries. I know that this is not true for me because of my personal beliefs and the anecdotal evidence I can supply. Whether the article would influence someone else I don't know, others may read it and decide it is not for them. Our belief system will always influence how we interpret articles IMHO.
 
As Beachbag says ''knowledge is power''.

The Internet can only be seen as a good thing as it has a wealth of information available 24/7 and I only wish it was around when I was first diagnosed, but much like what Catherine says I use it to shop, read reviews, study,catch-up on world events, sport and much much more.

As for being influenced and getting paranoid, I think people can be easily influenced and and there's a lot snake oil salesmen out there making a fortune out of some unfortunate people, you can generally gauge if someone is selling something that isn't trustworthy or if they have a hidden agenda and I tend to stay clear of such sites, to become paranoid is to believe everything that's said and the easiest way to avoid that is to stay clear of Google search and get on with life.
 
I used the internet originally on a K56flex dial up.
Even before google, it was full of both good and bad. Both are helpful so long as you can guess which is which.
Privacy has gone though. From a few careless posts, you can find out a lot more about people, within minutes you can find facebook pages, addresses, who people live with, even the price they paid for their house and when they moved there.
But I can also download manuals, wiring diagrams, building regs, anything to my phone within minutes as well.
On the whole though, it's a good source of knowledge, used properly.
 
Another thing is articles about mice being used to get results. People will decry mouse studies unless, once again, it agrees with their personal beliefs.
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That would be fair enough if i mice studies results actually translated to human trials more often than not they don't. I not saying animal studies don't have there uses but care should be taken when producing them as evidence before they have been trialed on humans.
 
I feel sorry for those of previous eras when there was no internet and knowledge and information was rationed. Given the appalling information and care I've had from medics, I believe I'd be dead by now. You can never have too much information. Ignorance is never bliss, it's just burying your head in the sand.

Smidge
 
Andy12345 said:
im not a great reader of studies, i do tend to have a little look at anything that crops up on the net especially medical stuff though, i reckon knowledge can only be a good thing, as you say opinions do differ a lot so its a case of deciding which to believe, i do always try to look at responses to reports made by real people, a bit like when looking to buy something i tend to give more credence to the reviews than the advert of a product, but without the internet i don't think i would have controlled db anywhere near as well so its all good imo
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Yes I think that is the sensible way to go if you are uncertain about what you read try to find someone who has actually experienced it and ask them what they think just like we do on this forum.The only ones who can tell you the good and bad about studies and are those that have tried it that way we can make a more informed decision
catherinecherub said:
If I am looking to purchase something then the internet is where I go first. I will read customer reviews, Which reports and the like before making a decision. I will also look for the best price. This saves me traipsing around all the shops that sell this particular product. This also applies to clothes and some stores do customer reviews which helps.
An example with the clothes might be that reviews suggest you need a larger/smaller size than you usually buy.


If your question is about diabetes related articles then you will find that if it suits a person's beliefs then they will take it on board.
Newspapers have a tendency to write headlines about studies that will grab the reader's attention but if they put a reference to the actual study it can be a different article altogether as newspapers rely on spin.

Another thing is articles about mice being used to get results. People will decry mouse studies unless, once again, it agrees with their personal beliefs.

There are some interesting studies that this NHS website dissects to come up with a better rationale.

No it was not just about diabetes
http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/NewsIndex.aspx


They explain how half of health news is spun.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/Pages/about-behind-the-headlines.aspx

How to avoid miracle cures and medicine scams
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Pharmacy/Pages/Miraclecures.aspx

Miracle foods and the media.
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/02February/Pages/miracle-foods-special-report.aspx

I could read a report that says that my particular way of managing my diabetes does not work and will cause health worries. I know that this is not true for me because of my personal beliefs and the anecdotal evidence I can supply. Whether the article would influence someone else I don't know, others may read it and decide it is not for them. Our belief system will always influence how we interpret articles IMHO.
Click to expand...

No not just about diabetes but about everything in our lives
 
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