Digitalized revolution

If it scares you to know that in five minutes, an individual could print out all your known addresses, criminal records, bills paid and travel information, then you’ve got a lot to get used to. The good news is, you don’t have to tremble alone. Recently, Google has taken a bid to digitize medical information to make it more shareable (among individuals qualified to see it), and in the process, it has awakened the fear of many. \nWith all the wonder of our new, digital era comes the nagging fear that our safety from hackers, power outages and cyborgs is dwindling. In its place, a vast network of information with the capability to marginalize our privacy and make us susceptible to new, shadowy threats sometimes makes us question whether all this innovation is truly in the vein of progress. \nBut we say these fears are unfounded. And provided that we take a sensible approach to the safety of these files, Google’s newest venture can only improve our well-being.\nMedical files especially tend to evoke feelings of anxiety. The thought that all of this information could exist on the Internet- that someone who knew what to type in could find out you had lice in eighth grade – generally makes us prefer the old method (you know, putting all that information in file cabinets in a dusty basement below our doctors’ offices). This old way of storing health records has created the illusion of safety, and has led the public to assume that information not easily accessible is secure. But this isn’t the case. \nAs time goes on, more and more information is going to be digitized. It’s already happening with public records, and it’s safe to say that digital media will become the predominant storage method for all information in the near future. While old-fashioned paper copies will still have a place in our hearts, that place will be small. \nInformation networks are continually expanding. And it seems the people who balk at Google’s acquisition of this contract glimpsed at the wheels that have been silently running in the background for years and became afraid of what they did not understand. \nThe potential for health records to be more widely accessible by the right people and more secure at the same time could have tremendous benefits. Things such as improper diagnoses and prescription mistakes could be avoided, medical care could be improved and society could benefit. While this does mean placing our faith in Google, surely our records are safer digitized in the hands of a team of willing and qualified nerds than in a file cabinet behind a receptionist. The risks in changing our technology will never cease, but then again, neither will the opportunity presented. Every generation has to deal with initial discomfort in the beginning of a technological revolution. But we already store our information on computers and CDs – and for good reason. We should embrace this new opportunity and encourage this trend of technological advancements to be mirrored in the rest of our world.