Recently a Mississippi mother posted a photo of her 3 year old daughter on Facebook after she had just gotten a new haircut; like any other mother would. What happened after that was nothing short of a miracle. A few friends realized that there was a ‘glow’ in one of the girls eyes. Concerned friends commented on the post and explained how it might not be anything serious but to check her eye out with a doctor to see if there are any medical reason as to why her eye was glowing. Soon enough through various tests a retina specialist diagnosed her with Coats disease, a rare condition that can lead to blindness. The doctor explained how if this had not been detected as soon it had been she, “probably would have ended up having a total retinal detachment, with total vision loss.” This is another way how unintentional daily interactions through social media can have beneficial consequences. For if this mother never posted a photo on Facebook for all her friends to see, her daughter might not have been as lucky as she is today.
http://http://www.today.com/health/facebook-post-saves-girls-vision-glow-eye-raises-alarm-2D79484677
This happening is the one of the benefit of social media tools. First, everyone can share their thought and idea. Second, we can visualize our idea and thought. In this case, Mississippi mother visualized her daughter and facebook’s users share their concern to 3year old daughter and it helps her to detect eyes.
That is nothing short of miraculous. Social media saved that girl’s eyes. If social media was not what it was today, people may not have been able to show their concern so easily. This girl may have been blind if she was born in a generation that didn’t inhale and exhale social media.
This story just showed me another way of how using social media can be beneficial to us. In the little girl’s case, she was fortunate enough to be medicated on her eye diseased in such an early stage. Without social media, she would probably experience great pain when she grow up. This is a benefit to allow yourselves to share personal things on public platforms.
It’s amazing how social media can be used to save someone’s vision just from a picture. This reminds me of how Clay Shirky mentions the idea of social capital in the book and that people are willing to use these social tools to help others. Social media can be used to spread knowledge that others have that may be useful to another person and that person can spread the knowledge that they have to their networks. The outcome of this particular situation most likely would not have been possible without social tools such as Facebook.