1 . Pay No Mind: People Admit to Driving, Texting, Drinking During Telehealth Visits

A recent study of 1,000 Americans revealed people are quite distracted during their virtual doctors and therapy appointments.

Hello, people of the technologically advanced world. Remember how we all hoped technology would make us better, more evolved? How’s that going for us lately? Great, I suspect — because look at how far we have come!     1    

The only problem is that we all seem to be having a tough time concentrating. On Wednesday, a survey from a health company found people texting, driving, watching TV, playing video games and even drinking during telehealth visits.

The study was small, surveying only 1,000 Americans over the age of 18 — but people admitted to exercising (18%), scrolling through social media (21%) and even smoking (11%) during health visits.     2     When Forbes expanded on the study through case studies and doctors’ interviews, they found out it’s not even just patients-it’s doctors, too.

Confused? Well, let’s talk it through…

Who decided we should be sober during health visits anyway?

To be fair, I have always thought that conversations about fungal infections, or having to strip off completely naked in front of a complete stranger, are things best done drunk. But if you really want to take your health seriously, perhaps it’s better to start with a clear mind.

Oh, so you mean there are downsides to visiting the doctors from the comfort of our homes?

    3    

Get used to it! Now people are pretty good in the art of multitasking.

Yes. And for us to truly move forward we must constantly disrupt! Or be disrupted! By, er…drinking beers. At least some people were exercising during their health visits, I suppose.

Are there any dangerous behaviors which have been reported?

Some have admitted to driving during their health appointments. In fact, one doctor told Forbes that she has had to ask patients to pull over on to the side of the road during their appointments so that they can concentrate.

    4     Doctors have said that they are also finding it hard to concentrate in this new reality, where the buzzing of our phones, the allure of the television, or the unexpected knock on the door seem to be teaming up against us to steal our attention while at work.

Perhaps your life is not that interesting-your therapist might be busy doing more important things, like watching TV series.

Spencer’s parents taught him basic first aid when he was young. One day, Spencer saw a boy     1     on the ground. The boy’s     2     was badly injured. Several people had stopped to help. Spencer used a cloth to     3     the bleeding and used his own T-shirt to make the boy s arm stable. Spencer showed someone how to apply pressure to the boy’s wounds and talked to him to keep him     4    . When the ambulance arrived, the medical workers     5     Spencer for his good work. If Spencer had not acted so quickly, the boy would have been in even greater     6    . By the next day, the whole school heard about what had happened. Spencer’s parents were very     7     of their son for his good work in the face of an emergency.