A LETTER TO EM
Angelena B. Edwards, MD
So many things happen when you transition from teenager to young adult, social media being one of them. It’ s a time in most people’ s life when Facebook goes from a network of social activities and a living, breathing diary and photo collage of your happiest memories, to a place you go to keep up with the lives of once close friends who are now barely acquaintances. In college, my Facebook was lively with the events of the most recent Greek dance or football tailgate, but slowly regressed in medical school to becoming a twice-a-year recap of an epic Cadaver Ball with not much activity in between.
As I saw my peers getting married or expecting children, traveling the world or landing that big corporate job, mine was a reflection of the shell of a social life I used to have. It became a way to peer into a world I truly felt left out of, and as I spoke to other medical students I heard them sharing my feelings of solitude. Facebook, and most all social media, began to lose stock for me, especially as applying to residency came into fruition. This once proud, reflective journal of my life became a liability for how the world might view me. During this time I was spending at least eight hours of my day sitting at a desk and reading among my friends. I vividly remember studying for the next block exam when I came across a status post that made me really reexamine my perspective on the world. This introspective thought was provoked from the most unlikely source – a call out of disparity from an estranged high school classmate that would turn into a monumental moment in my medical career.
The author of the request was someone I hadn’ t spoken to in over five years, but the unnerving part is I knew what was unfolding in her life due to the constant dialog on her Facebook feed. Her post consisted of medical updates of her ongoing struggles to find the diagnoses of her crippling symptoms – symptoms that spiraled a once bright-eyed, intellectual athlete to become a patient being studied from every angle. She was on my swim team in high school, the steady anchor for freestyle, and one who would swim the mile and
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