Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/aONWORsgY5Y     When the language your employ in your social posts becomes more formal and, well irritated,  you likely have medical treatment or, worse, a hospital visit, just ahead.  This observation comes from a Stony Brook University and University of Pennsylvania study that analyzed, using artificial intelligence techniques, the Facebook posts and medical records of nearly 3,000 patients using an urban hospital.   Beginning 10 weeks before a emergency visit, social posts used less informal and jaunty language including lol and omg.  Instead, the verbiage projected anxiety, worry, and depression.   When you read your family’s and friend’s posts, watch for such changes, When you detect them, do ask and ask repeatedly “are you OK?”     Sharath Chandra Guntuku, H. Andrew Schwartz, Adarsh Kashyap, Jessica S. Gaulton, Daniel C. Stokes, David A. Asch, Lyle H. Ungar, Raina M. Merchant. Variability in Language used on Social Media prior to Hospital Visits. Scientific Reports, 2020; 10