In conclusion, most adults’ relationship to health and health care remains firmly rooted in the offline world, even as many are exploring the information and communications options available to them. When facing a health question, most people turn to a health professional, friend, or family member; the internet plays a supplemental role. E-patients are likely to dip in to social media activities related to health, but posting comments, reviews, or other health content are not yet mainstream online activities.

There are signs that change is coming:

First, mobile access is on the rise. Wireless connections are associated with deeper engagement in social media and an accelerated pace of information exchange. Indeed, those with mobile access to the internet are more likely than those who have tethered access to contribute their comments and reviews to the online conversation about health and health care. 

Second, adults between the ages of 18 to 49 are more likely than older adults to participate in social technologies related to health. As younger adults face more health care questions and challenges, they may turn to the tools they have sharpened in other contexts of their lives to gather and share health advice.

But in the end, experts remain vital to the health-search and decision-making process. Americans’ longstanding practices of asking a health professional, a trusted friend, or a wise family member persist as patients pursue good health. These are practices which, in the words of John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid “will not budge” and therefore require designers of any new health care application “to look not ahead, but to look around” in order to see the way forward.²³