FOURQUESTIONSON

MARCH14TWOTHOUSANDAND11

These are two boys

that I met on a
recent trip to Tibet.
They were one of
many children of a
nomadic family that
most likely was
visiting Lhasa, Tibet
for the Tibetan
Buddhist festival that
was taking place.
When I showed
them their picture,
they acted like it was
the first time to see
one.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY

By James L. Spradlin

At the moment of writing this
section, I’m sitting in a semi-
comfortable chair at about 30,000
feet somewhere above the mid-
West heading towards Las Vegas
I’ve learned for a social media strategy
conference. My computer, which
that the Online weighs about 9 ounces has about
connections are 7 hours of battery life left. I’m
most effective when connected to the plane’s wifi
serving the network. It seems that Ford
Motor Company is running some
Analog
sort of advertisement that allows
travelers free wifi and access to
Facebook . They are hoping that
I “like” the new Ford Explorer. I
do like it, but I don’t want to click
the button.
The fact that this is
happening is strange to me. Yes,
it’s becoming more normal, but
it’s still new enough to be
astonishing for at least a few
moments.
Stop and think about this for
a second -- I’m in a winged silver
tube being projected across the
sky at 550 mph while also
connected to anyone else in the
world with Internet access.
Before we took off, my
colleague Mike posted a picture
on FB saying we were on our way.
I commented -- online -- on his
photo making some sort of
wisecrack. Mike is sitting less
than a few feet in the row behind
me, and yet my message travelled
from my computer, through the
wifi service, out of the plane into
a satellite, back down to Earth
filtering through who knows how
many servers until hitting one of
Facebook’s, then back out and up
to the satellite, back to the plane,
and to Mike’s screen -- all within
about the time it takes the woman
next to me to sneeze.
A chat window just popped
up and it’s my friend Matt. He’s
starting his work day back in
Orlando.
This is the future. We all live
in the moment in human history
where for the first time ever
millions, even billions, of people
are able to be connected near
instantaneously regardless of
geographical location.

1

It hasn’t always been like this.
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
Everything has changed so fast.
Everything is changing even faster.
They say the rate of change is
exponential compounding day by day.
I was conceived in 1979 and I was
birthed in 1980. The first computer I
remember using was either an Apple
Macintosh or a Commadore 64. I’m not
positive which. My father Jim worked at
an Apple store back when Apple wasn’t
yet cool. He didn’t wear skinny jeans
and no one called him a genius. My
parents refused to get us a Nintendo as
my mother swore that it would rot our
brain, and so we rotted our brains with
computer games instead. My mother
assumed that if it was a game on a
computer then it must make you smarter
-- somehow. To this day, I have a love
hate relationship with technology. I think
my brother Bill, who does visual effects
in Hollywood (300, Transformers,
Avatar) hates and loves technology even
more than I do. Of course, that might
also be because he’s lived in LA to long
and has become jaded.
The first thing I ever remembering
using a search engine for was by
querying Netscape Navigator “how to
build an atomic bomb” during study hall
in the library at school. I was only about
12 or 13, and of course had no
intentions other than addressing my
curiosity to the question of “what kind of
information can be found here”. It
didn’t take me long to find the
instructions for building an atomic bomb,
Notice the
Tibetan
monk in red
is drooling
over an
iPhone 3G
wrapped in a
golden plastic
case
2
but luckily (for me) Walmart was all out
of the proper ingredients.
A few days ago I received an email
from an old friend, Brad. You might
know him as Professor Reisinger. Three
years ago I was in Brad’s wedding, and
then a month later he was in mine. We
went to high school together,
skateboarded and played soccer together
-- and got disconnected after high school
but reconnected after college.
Not too long after Brad and Jenny
were married, they moved North. Brad
and I attempted to stay in contact with
each other through digital dialogue, but
unfortunately we were not able to see
each other in person much over these
years.
Most of our conversation has always
revolved around the great questions of
life, and the intricacies of exploring them
not just alone, but also with other people.
I can’t remember the last time I even
saw Brad. Maybe it was a few
Thanksgivings ago? I’m really not sure.
But what I am sure of is that
because we have lost close geographical
touch, we have lost touch as friends.
We’ve tried to stay in contact minimally,
but it hasn’t really worked.
Of course, I’m sure we’ve both kept
up with each other’s blogs, our Facebook
posts, maybe even links spit out through
Twitter, but that’s about it. That’s pretty
impersonal actually, and nothing to
maintain a relationship off of -- so I’ve
learned.
Twitter @JLSpradlin
Though Brad is unique, the
limitations of connection through the
digital is not. I’ve experienced a decrease
in other relationships as well too where
our only connection is through the digital
wires. I’ve tried for years to stay
connected with my parents, but it hasn’t
really worked as much as I hoped for. It
will never replace spending time with
them in person.
To compensate, my sibling’s and I
even went in and bought my parents
iPhones so that we might stay more in
touch. We setup a family blog. I was
about the only one that would post
consistently. We grew a part. In a sense,
the digital connection heightened our
frustrations of not being able to truly
connect with each other.
It was if we knew more information
about each other’s lives, but it didn’t taste
the same. It didn’t feel the same. That’s
it, I realized, the feeling wasn’t the same.
At this point, I’ve just had to accept this.
And the same goes for Brad. I’ve had
to accept our relationship can’t be the
same unless we spend more time face to
face. We’ve frustrated each other, as
most friends do, and even hurt each
other’s feelings through emails or other
online comments. When you can’t
witness the other person listening, it’s
hard to know if they really are.
We need to learn to trust each
other again, and that will not happen at
a distance. That will not happen
through email. Trust will not be built
over Facebook.
Then notice the
monk in the blue
is holding an
iPhone 4
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
Through all of this, I’ve learned that the Online
connections with other people are most healthy when set to
serve the Analog world -- life without wires.
By now, some of you might be wondering why do I share
such a personal details into such a topic? I thought we were
talking about social information. Well, we are.
It is pertinent you know these things because at the heart
of social technology is people. The essence of “changing the
world” through the use of social technology is impacting
people -- it’s less about the technology and more about the
people. At least that’s what I believe.
Without people, this topic would be futile. I realize that
may seem obvious, that people are ingrained in talks of
anything social, but it seems for many people the temptation is
to shift the focus to the technology. Often, that’s my
temptation. Another common mistake is to focus more on the
use of the technology than the connections provided. In the
end, we lose site of what we were trying to do in the first place
-- engage with other people.
3
“It is pertinent you know these things because
at the heart of social technology is people. The
essence of “changing the world” through the use of
social technology is impacting people -- it’s less about the
technology and more about the people. At least that’s
what I believe.”
As soon as I forget that, I’m disconnecting with others
regardless how connected I think I am. As soon as we
collectively forget that, we all suffer.
WHAT
YOU WILL FIND NEXT
On the following pages I’ve attempted to answer four
questions proposed regarding social technology and social
information. If you are interested in continuing further in
dialog with me after reading, take a look at the last pages so you
can find out how to contact me.
Or, maybe you even have some good suggestions for me to
consider as I continue to work through this topic. That would
be great. Thank you for your time and attention.
 Twitter @JLSpradlin

How do you See Human Communication Evolving

in Light of Technology?
The First Question

In the long run, I see human communication
mostly remaining the same as it always has been.
What I mean is that one person experiences
something, say a thought or idea or desire or feeling
or all of the above, and then they package that and
transfer it and it is hopefully received by the
intended audience with as accurate of the originally
intended experience as possible. With that said, I see
two variables in that equation continuing to change
dramatically over the next 10 years and on for the
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
Earth image access to his surroundings to map out
his trip -- all the way around the other side of the
world.
This is access plus speed. You might take this
for granted, but I’ve watched this stunning shift in
communication change over the last 30 years.
I take a picture, upload it, and seconds later
someone “likes” it. Never in human history has this
been possible until now.
Over time, we should see the speeds increase, as

rest of the World. well as more and more people around the world will
The two variables are speed and access. have access to faster and faster speeds.
Yes, there are many other variables in the Ethiopia is another good personal example.
equation that impact effective communication, but I About two and a half years ago, I was traveling with
believe what we are seeing change the most is speed Professor Reisinger and a few other friends through
of transmission and geographical accessibility to Northern Ethiopia. We were literally in the middle
send and receive. Remember, I’m near of nowhere as we were riding through the rocky and
instantaneously sending and receiving messages barren lands from one town to another when we saw
while having unfettered access on the plane. something odd ahead.
When I think of speed, I think about being able In front of us was a group of about twenty or so
to send a message from my email on my phone to men and boys with shovels. As we got closer we saw
my family back home regardless where I might be in what they were doing. They were being organized
the world -- all within a few seconds. by a Chinese man wearing slacks, a collared shirt,
NOTE: Actually, the one of the most startling and a white hard hat.
examples of the rate at which information is created Behind them was a large spool of thick cable.
We stopped for a few moments and our guide asked
socially just happened today on my last edit -- the 2011
what they were doing. In the middle of Northern
Sendai Earthquake. The earthquake only happened a Ethiopia, these men and children were laying fiber
few hours ago, and yet the Wikipedia page is being optic cable through some of the roughest terrain I’d
updated in realtime. This blows my mind. We now live ever seen.
in a time where history is written as it is still Fast forward to last Fall, and one of the
strangest things I saw on a recent trip to Tibet was
happening.
not what you’d expect. Up until the last 100 or so
My brother was recently visiting Thailand. He
years, Tibet has been fairly isolated from the rest of
hadn’t travelled much in his life, but he had finished
the world. Things are certainly changing.
working on the movie “Avatar” in New Zealand and
When I was visiting the Jokhang Temple in
also another film in Australia -- and so he decided he
Lhasa, Tibet, I noticed one of the Buddhist monks
needed to “see the [real] world”. Before visiting
was carrying something in his left hand that looked
Thailand, he stopped in Singapore. During his
travels, he was uploading his pictures to Facebook
for friends and family to follow. Bill can be fairly
introverted, and it’s just his style to let us know what
country he was in by the pictures he was uploading
to share with others.
During one point in his trip, we scheduled a
phone call. Despite not having access to Asian
cellular networks, using wifi and the Skype app on
his iPhone, we had a call that was significantly
clearer in quality than most phone calls I engage in
with people across town -- and it was free of charge.
Twenty years ago most of this was mostly unheard
To see pictures and video of Tibet visit my blog
of for people like us -- VoiP, digital cameras, sharing
@ www.Aftifi.com or go straight to Flickr.com/
pictures on a trip as they are taken, and Google
JLSpradlin & vimeo.com/JLSpradlin

4
 Twitter @JLSpradlin

4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
fairly familiar. I questioned myself, and then it was confirmed Much of communication is non-verbal, somewhere in the
as I took a second look Yep, I thought, that monk is definitely range of 80% or more depending on who you read. I can’t tell
carrying an iPhone. And not just any iPhone, he had the you how many times I’ve been misunderstood from an online
newest iPhone 4 -- one model newer than mine. message. This means that whenever a person is reading
another person’s message, all they have to do is to focus on the
Where is the biggest shift in Human text. This is great in urgent situations, but in others, it can
prove to be a disadvantage.
Communication Happening Digitally? Most of us have experienced it. Someone is engaging with
Regarding the actual messages within communication, the us, and we really don’t have their attention. I’ve been wonder if
biggest shift seems to be in length of transmission. What I have this attention dwindles as we replace faces with screens?
no idea about is whether our messages have gotten shorter Frequently when I’m at breakfast, lunch, or dinner with
because our attention has been dwindling or if because our someone, they check their phone multiple times in the
attention is shriveling up -- so that our transmissions are in turn conversation. You know, because those absolutely urgent texts
impacted. Or, maybe we have less time than before? At least about nothing urgent just have to be read and answered
that’s what I think in 140 characters or less. immediately. And we do it to each other, we expect quick
Have you wondered yet why you’re reading all of this in feedback. We get frustrated if we haven’t heard back.
this particular format? I want your attention. I don’t want to In the corporate world, this gets worse. Besides just being
compete with your inability to resist the temptation to click on rude and indirectly communicating that the person in front of
a siren-like link enticing you to take a peek at what’s behind it. you is not worth of your attention (take a quick look at your
Of course, I figure I lost about 30% of you as soon as you were phone and see how many of the messages were truly time
handed a document that was more than a page long. Or, sensitive) -- being constantly connected has been one of the
maybe you are reading this on your computer or even Ipad? great de-railers of my ability to be effective.
Maybe you are not even the intended audience and stumbled We live in a society where knowledge is power, and if you
upon this through Scribd.com? aren’t in the know, you might be socially more and more of a
This shift in attention is challenging for all kinds of people. nobody. We feel good when we know something someone else
It doesn’t just impact our day to day lives, but it impacts our doesn’t. Some people take it so far as to say with a smirk, “Oh
ability to process information -- you know, learning. It impacts you didn’t know?” Yes, really, I didn’t know.
our relationships too. I’ve been married for three years as of Another impact of access that I’ve been considering is the
last week, and you know how many times I’ve heard, “You difference between information and wisdom. Personally, there
aren’t listening to me.” Regardless if I could repeat back what are many things in life that I’ve known, but once I experienced
was being said verbatim, it was true -- I wasn’t in fact listening. them they took a much different shape. It’s as if the
I was only listening to the facts -- only hearing the “data”. I information was transmuted into part of me as a person.
was rarely taking into consideration the context, or the Before, it was just a thought I fancied in my head, but
emotion, or the tone, or what was being implied. Thankfully, I afterwards, it is now a part of who I am or who I am not.
have an extremely patient wife and she’s not just waited for me And so I wonder, what happens when we can get access to
to re-learn how to have a conversation with another human answers to nearly any question in a matter of seconds? Is this
being, but she’s also helped me grow in this by encouraging me always beneficial? Sometimes I forget to apply what I read.
with positive feedback. Also most importantly she helps me by I’ve met too many people that when asked the big
being able to forgive me quickly. questions of life, as far as why they think they exist, their
And I see the same thing happen online. I’ve done the answers reflect that they haven’t really spent much time
same thing online. It’s weird because online it allows me to thinking through and growing through these things. It’s not
take a piece of text written by someone else and much more that people don’t give answers, it’s that many of the answers
easily isolate it out of the context of that a person. I don’t see sound memorized. They sound distant from what they are
their smile. I don’t see their body language. I typically don’t saying, as if it’s really a part of another person’s story. And so I
remember what they posted a month ago that may or may not wonder why. I wonder why so many people say with their
be related. Or even if I do, is it helpful to assume there is a mouth what their hands and feet say differently.
connection between this post and any of the previous ones? It In the end, I’m concerned. I wonder how this all impacts
gets worse if I have no idea what happened earlier in their day. our ability to communicate. Does true connectedness increase
I lose much of the context. And I make a lot of assumptions. with our ability to always be connected? And what is true
And my attention tends to be short. I don’t want to have a connectedness, by the way? Regardless of my concern, I am
17 day conversation engaging in normal back and forth dialog hopeful -- because I think we are seeing change. Even my 16
that can be take place offline in less than 10 minutes. Yet, I’ve year old nephew is realizing that there is something severely
fell often for the deception that talking online in this format is destructive with “too much Facebook”. I’m proud of him for
more efficient. It can be efficient, but for many things, it’s not. seeing this at such a young age. I’m hopeful you see it too.
Rarely it is more efficient in crucial conversations. And so
“Hey, this is not a real tweet. Follow me @JLSpradlin
I’ve learned. I’ve learned to take this into consideration. I’ve
for real tweets. I have a grand total of 16 followers.”
made it an effort now to avoid having lengthy conversations
online than utterly necessary. Sometimes I do, but at least
going in I consider if digital is the most effective format for
communicating.

5

How is this Social Information Revolution
changing the World?
The Second Question
The world has always been changing, and it will
always continue to change -- regardless of
technology. When cultures connect, they influence
each other, of course some more than others. When
people interact, change happens if even only a
subtle fashion. And so I want to make that clear, it’s
not the technology that is generating something
entirely new, it’s simply that what has always
happened. Change is happening at an exponentially
rapid rate and this started as soon as messages were
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
able to be delivered at a fast rate. Maybe it was
carrier pigeons, or a foreigner arriving on horseback
from a distant land with a never before sacred text --
but this is nothing new.
For the record, people were narcissistic before
Twitter and Facebook. People were helping others
across the world before DoSomething.Org.
Cultures, religions, and governments were melding
before Mark Zuckerberg was in diapers.
With that said, the most simplistic answer to this
is that it is making the world not just seem smaller
through perception and awareness -- but is allowing
individuals who would never have previously
interacted with each other to now be able to provide
mutually beneficial value.
When I was a kid growing up in Oklahoma, I
never really thought about traveling to other
countries much. What seemed like an adventurous
long distance trip would be to a place like California
or New York City. Other countries, let alone cities,
weren't really on my radar. My mom, who is a 1st
grade teacher in rural Oklahoma emailed me the
other day and mentioned that her kids were studying
distant lands. She showed them a video of my
recent trip to Tibet -- instantly their horizons are
now stretched. The teacher’s son saw these things,
and maybe one day they will too. These kind of
memories tend to stick with us.
But as I got older, just like for many people, this
global awareness began to shift.
I first started getting online about 12, which was
1992. I remember when I got my first modem and I
was so excited. Finally my friend Scott and I could
dial each other’s computers to play Doom against
each other, one of the original first person shooters.
Luckily for my family, we had two phone lines so I
didn’t have to bog down the family line. Then in
1993 and 1994 AOL started catching steam, and
more and more people were going online as well too,
especially to chat rooms. Before AOL, I was
interacting through a service called Prodigy, which
was similar to CompuServe. I remember how cool it
6
Twitter @JLSpradlin
was that I was able to talk to someone through a
chat window from somewhere else.
About a month ago, I sent a message to a
photographer in India, who I've never met. One of
my personal goals for the year is to get as good
technically and creatively in photography as I can
with as little time invested as possible. To do this, I
signed up for a Flickr account and started uploading
some of the pictures that I recently captured. But
my intention for joining Flickr was more to get
exposed to other photographers who were much
more skilled and fortunate than I -- so I could not
only be inspired by them, but also so that I could
seek out learning opportunities with them. One of
the pictures I was blown away by was a picture of a
beggar at a festival in India. As the photographer
Tuhin explains, the man was angry that some of the
passerby’s were not giving him enough money -- and
so he began shaking his fist at them and cursing
them. So far, this is the most striking photo I've ever
seen on Flickr, and I've seen many. I wanted to learn
how to be prepared to capture such a moment if I
too were blessed with the right time and the right eye
-- and so I contacted the photographer. He said he
would be glad to explain how he did it.
Recently I finished a book on leadership called
"Leaders Who Last". The book addresses the
premise that statistics show that about 70% of
leaders do not finish strong -- they don’t last as
leaders. This book has made a huge impact on my
life, especially since in December of 2009 my father
entered into a dark time in his life. Entering into
January of 2010, though I was still dazed from the
intensity of such an experience of helping him
through that time, I knew one thing: I didn’t want to
make the same mistakes. Not too long later, I read
an article online, and then saw a plug for this book.
Obviously it caught my attention.
About three weeks ago, I had some specific
questions regarding the book, that I thought would
be great to ask the author. On a whim, I decided to
email the book publisher's website asking that they
consider forwarding my questions on. In about five
or so hours, I had an email in my inbox from the
author of the book. He lives 3,086 miles away in
Seattle. The next week, we had our first phone
conversation. Tomorrow, my wife and I will be
picking him up from his hotel and getting to know
each other over dinner.
Let's quickly take a look at what happened here.
First, I went online and was reading an article that a
friend recommended. He had shared this link

through his Facebook feed. I followed
the trail and read what he had read. At
the bottom of the article were comments
of individuals separated by great
geographical distances. I also saw a
"Read More" link by this author. The
link took me to a synopsis of his new
book. I went to Amazon and read the
user reviews. It sounded good. I emailed
a few friends asking if they had read the
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
book, which they hadn't, but also said
they had heard it was worthwhile. I went
back to Amazon and within a few days
had the book on my door step. And right
now, though we've never met, I'm sharing
with you my experience. Some of you
might even be influenced enough to read
the book for yourself, and in turn impact
others.
In a recent video that I watched on
Ted.com, the presenter was speaking
about the impact of Internet video on
individual’s creating a collaborative
learning network through sharing their
skills -- particularly their break dancing
moves. The concept is simple. By break
dancers having exposure to other break
dancers much more skilled then them,
they were able to learn new moves.
What then begins to happen is those
moves are then improved upon, video’d,
and then re-uploaded. Then, another
person sees these improvements, and the
cycle continues. This type of
collaborative learning is penetrating
every area from moms trading organic
cookie recipes to terrorist groups
recruiting the next generation of martyrs.
WHAT I’M MOST CONCERNED
ABOUT is how social technology is
changing us as individuals. Where I’m
most concerned is how accountability,
true transparency, and deep connections
are made. Where I believe this is most
seen is the shift in the definition of a
“friend”. Go ahead, think about that for
a second, what is a friend? What’s the
difference between an acquaintance and
a friend?
Concerning true transparency, I’ll
just one of my friends as an example.
Because I don’t one single person with
this name, I’ll change his name to
Marvin for now. Anyways, if you follow
Marvin’s blog, Facebook updates, or
Twitter streams you’ll begin to see a
pattern of “personal” thoughts and
7 Pictures @ Flickr.com/JLSpradlin
Twitter @JLSpradlin
feelings shared. Some of these things are
not the type of things you’d see anyone
be willing to admit online, such as “I
don’t like that I think less of poor people.
I want to change.” In fact, Marvin has
even been a personal inspiration for me
to consider what true transparency looks
like online. Sure, he says some things at
times that doesn’t have the intended
impact, or maybe even that he regrets
later -- but at least he’s trying.
What I’ve learned through him, in
addition to my own personal experiments
in his realm is that you can create a false
sense of accountability. Such as, you
think well I shared this online, so I am a
transparent person. But the thing that
really makes you look bad, you don’t
post. Well, why not?
Secondly, I think a level of online
honesty can simply be an excuse to not
have deep relationships offline. This
happens because you get that quick fix
from posting something personal -- and if
people don’t like it, you don’t really have
to deal with the follow through. So I
question whether this is true transparency
or not?
The conclusion I’ve come to is that
100% true transparency is not possible
online or offline. Our own perception of
reality is biased, so how in the world can
we be transparent with others more than
we are with ourselves?
So if that’s not possible, then do
we scrap that idea? I don’t think so.
Appropriate transparency is what works
best. But, in my experience, this only
works if I have accountability offline, as
in a close friend who I’ve asked to help
encourage me and hold me to what I
value most.
How this impacts social
technology is that to me, it still seems we
are all not just trying to figure out how to
relate to each other online, but also
offline. To add to the challenge, work life
and personal life are beginning to not just
overlap, but they are also beginning to
become intertwined.
As of writing this paragraph, it’s
the week after the social media strategy
conference I attended. During more
than one of the Q&A sessions, an
attender asked the speaker how they went
about separating our their personal
branding online with their professional
branding. They were asking how they
projected themselves differently to those
different audiences.
The speaker said he didn’t project
himself differently. He said that he had
no problem with allowing people access
to see all parts of his life -- letting his
work colleagues see his personal digital
stream, and his friends and family see his
digital work life stream. Multiple people
in the audience didn’t like this.
He summed up his answer by
saying that he wasn’t willing to commit
the time and energy to separating those
two streams out entirely. Observing the
reaction of a few others in the audience,
they didn’t seem to get it.
I’ve asked those same questions.
And I think it seems that the resistance to
combining the two is more of a
generational difference than anything
else -- with the lack of understanding of
how to go about this as the close second
of preventatives.
Personally, I believe in being the
same person regardless who is listening,
though understand that also does not
mean that I share everything with
everybody. I still use discretion.
Even in person, it is impossible for
me to communicate everything I possibly
could to create this true “transparency”
that is spoken about. The fact of the
matter is that I don’t even have true
transparency with myself as long as I
have a subconscious mind. And I didn’t
even realize that until I just said. There
you go, that’s proof.
Instead of chasing unicorns, I will
try to live somewhere in between.
THIS IS
FILLER.
SO IS
THIS.

How do you see your specific field of Healthcare
evolving?
The Third Question
As information has become more and more
accessible, what we've seen happen over the last
twenty years is more and more people become more
educated in medical issues. This is simply because of
a shift in access -- again this is not just access to static
information on the Internet, but it is access to
dynamic conversations with others who’ve been
through what another is going through.
Overall, this has helped contribute to the overall
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
well being of seeking a solution for whatever health
issue is at hand. This will continue and I expect
resources available to patients prior to, during, and
after being cared for will increase in quality.
When I was 17 and a senior in high school, our
soccer team was a few weeks from going to Districts.
I suffered my 2nd concussion within 30 days,
experiencing amnesia both times for about 15-30
minutes. After spending a night in the hospital for
monitoring, I had a follow-up appointment with a
local neurologist. He came in with news we weren't
expecting -- during examining the CT scan they had
discovered a birth defect where my brainstem was
exposed and if struck I would be killed instantly. He
said he needed to operate the following week. We
were floored.
As soon as my mom got home, she began
searching the Internet, in the days before Google's
dominate use. She learned as much as she could,
and knew something was not quite right. I got a
second opinion. Then, I received a third. It was
conclusive, there was nothing wrong with me. I
didn't end up having brain surgery, and even was
able to play in the last game of my high school
soccer career. I believe if my mom hadn't sought
further information than the doctor was providing,
this story might have ended up differently.
That was over 13 years ago, and much has
changed.
As mentioned before regarding compounding
learning opportunities, since healthcare providers
are sharing much of their best practices online as
well as creative new ways of serving their customers,
the same enhanced rate of learning is taking place as
is in other industries.
Medical records are all on their way to
becoming digitized and standardized. To younger
generations, this most likely seems like a no brainer
and they wonder why this has taken so long to
happen. I wondered the same thing until I began
working for a larger healthcare system. In this
world, everything tends to take longer -- simply
because of the size. It’s easy to make a decision
AFTIFI
8 For more links to more interesting things, visit me at www.AFTIFI.com
Twitter @JLSpradlin
amongst 5 people, but things change when it is
amongst 5,000 people. I call it "hospital time". In
"hospital time", soon can mean anything from a
week to 3 to 4 months. This is both good and bad,
sometimes very necessary and other times quite
unnecessary -- but it is how it is for now..
Personally where I see one of the biggest shift in
healthcare happening is capitalizing on the ease of
use of social technology to enter into an ongoing
dialogue with the community to form deeper
relationships between the healthcare provider and
those seeking help. At times, it is very important that
a hierarchy of communication and authority be
established from the physician to the patient, such as
the operating room. As you can imagine, that is not
the best place for the patient to be telling the
surgeon where to make the cut and how to sew their
chest back up after open heart surgery -- because
they read a recent article on WebMD about it.
But a shift needs to happen in other spaces. One
of those areas is community engagement.
Everyone who works at the hospital I am at also
live in the community with everyone else. We are
part of the community. We are also served by other
members of the community. And so I think the
hospital has an opportunity to appropriately step
down from the ivory tower and stand next to other
individuals in the community -- not in every
situation, but appropriately. This is already
happening, but we can certainly do better. Over the
last 50 or so years, as information has become more
accessible, it appears we are seeing this sort of shift
take place across many aspects of life such as
government, religion, and education.
The opportunity that I see happening is that a
relationship can be put at the center of how we
choose to use these tools. If we focus on
relationship, on people, then trust is built prior to the
need for greater trust. Then, if and when an
unfortunate tragedy happens, we can naturally be
trusted also when it matters most.
To accomplish this, this is more than just setting
up a Facebook page and blasting out advertisements
to our fans. It is re-thinking it from the ground up.
Actually, it's by forgetting about the technology for a
moment. That’s what I meant before. It's about
breaking down what we do and what we care about
as simply as possible.
Therefore if we focus on what we care most
about with others who we live alongside in our
community, we all win.
 What ideas do you think that college Sophomores
should consider?
The Fourth and Last Question
In addition to offering a few key pieces of wisdom that Consider collaborative learning -- sharing with others what
has shaped me over the years, I’d first like to invite you into you’re learning, what mistakes you’re making, and where
dreaming big with me and maybe even tackling some of the you are experiencing success.
great opportunities we have to have a massive impact on
our local and global communities. I would love to hear your Mentor someone younger than you. Don’t wait till you
insight and ideas and plans of action -- so please use my know everything because you never will. If you think you
contact information on the follow page to connect with me. know everything, please don’t mentor anyone. You can’t
How can we use social technology in daily lives in a learn how to be a mentor unless you try.
way that enhances our face to face interaction instead of
detracting from them? Don’t forget to laugh.
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY

How can we communicate with each other more

effectively digitally when so much of our non-verbal
communication is lost?
How can we use social technology to engage in
collaborative learning? How do we become transparent, but
BOOKS
also appropriate? THAT I RECOMMEND.
How can we use social technology in the work place to
be more effective with our team members? Influencer
What are you meant to uniquely offer the world? And by multiple authors -- too many to list!
how can you use social technology to do that? If you can get past the marketing crap on the cover and
first chapter, you won’t regret it. This is proven structure for
What are creatively effective ways of sharing our life
producing massive change efforts in individuals and
stories of hope and inspiration with others digitally?
societies. It works.
How do we effectively engage with others when
digitally dialoging through tough topics such as politics,
religion, and other things we are most passionate and most Crucial Conversations
sensitive about? by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, and Switzler
How do we go about developing the discretion of The structure for successfully engaging in conversations
being too connected? that turn crucial.
And how might we teach our children all of these
things? What will they inherit from watching us? Don’t Waste Your Life
by John Piper

CLICHE Like the title says, taught me how to not waste my life.
Don’t waste yours, please.

ADVICE THAT WORKS.

Know what you want. Know why you want it. Know what
you don’t want -- and why you don’t want it.
LINKS
THAT I RECOMMEND.
Strategy is intentionally saying “yes” to a few things while
intentionally saying “no” to many things. On Being Productive
the99percent.com [translating ideas into action]
Everyone is an influencer -- a leader is someone who
influences effectively. On Being Exposed to Innovators
www.TED.com [all things innovation]
Consider the limitations of the medium.
On All Things Social Technology
Seek multiple mentors who specialize in areas you seek to www.Mashable.com
grow in. Pick at least one that will advise and hold you
accountable across your entire life.
AFTIFI
It’s better to be effective than to be efficient at something For many many many more links to more interesting things
ineffective. such as videos, articles, quotes, pictures, etc, visit me at
www.AFTIFI.com
9 If you want to think and do big, surround yourself with
others who not just think big, but get big things done.
4QUESTIONSABOUT THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY
Helpful things to know. About me.
personal branding junk goes here
I heard something funny today. When asked, "So what do
you do?" another man replied, "About what?"
Every time I answer that question, regarding work, I feel as
if it is too good to be true. In the summer of 2009, I got the
opportunity of starting a new career path while staying in
healthcare. I do strategic planning for one of the best
children’s hospitals in the U.S. that is located in Orlando,
Florida.
What does strategic planning mean? This means that I
work with many gifted individuals who have the vision for
continually improving the quality and care we provide to
children and their families -- and my privilege is to help them
plan strategically how to see that vision form. We dream as big
and as often as possible
Yet, that is all only a sliver of how I spend my time.
My personal life is not separate from my work life. Yes,
there are boundaries that I am very strict about. But what I am
10
“Some people say that as a child, I strongly
resembled my father. Yet, I’ve never seen a
connection.”
most passionate about outside work is the same inside of work.
I strive to be the most effective I can be in helping people with
influence be as effective as possible in helping others.
The way I figure is if I can positively impact a few people
who have the potential to impact hundreds, thousands, or even
millions, then by helping them be even more effective I can
make an even greater impact than I could ever dream of on my
own.
Ways to Contact or Follow Me?
Email: contact@JamesSpradlin.com
Facebook: Facebook.com/JLSpradlin
Twitter me @ JLSpradlin Flickr @ Flickr.com/JLSpradlin
AFTIFI: A Blog
For more links to more interesting things, visit me at
www.AFTIFI.com or jump straight to Vimeo.com/JLSpradlin
The end.