I have never been accused of being an early adopter. I actually use my phone to call people and a camera to take pictures. I only added messaging to my cellular plan last year when the number of my incoming texts began wreak havoc on my monthly bill. I don't own any Apple devices. If you ask me about a tweet, I may start singing the Jackson 5's “Rockin' Robin”. My most recent status update on Facebook was over a year ago. I once had a dream where I was diagnosed with bilateral thenar atrophy and prescribed physical therapy to exercise my opposable thumbs to build strength for texting. I constantly worry about my son's brain being rewired by electronic devices and therefore torture him with crayons and paper when we go out to eat instead of allowing him play Angry Birds. (It probably goes without saying that my phone doesn't support apps anyway.) Now don't get me wrong. I know there are amazing uses for technology and social media. And lest you think I am depriving my son of crucial life skills, he is familiar with the PBS kids website and we do use the computer, as a learning tool, in metered doses. I will also confess to having participated in more than one contest to try to win an iPod or an iPad, but I have never won and have not yet found it necessary to actually use one. I did have an iPod once but I gave it to my husband, who has more patience than I do for sitting at the computer transferring, downloading and syncing.

In my defense, I live in rural Idaho where I don't have too many questions for Siri, have a 5-minute commute, spend a lot of time playing outside, try very hard to maintain the delicate balance of work and family life, and really like to get 9 hours of sleep a night. In order to get through each day with my sanity intact, I need to be efficient and have always felt that paying attention to social media would be distracting, making my daily to do list even harder to complete than it already is. However, after several conversations with my colleagues on the editorial board, I have started to reconsider my aversion to Twitter. Allegedly, there is a significant amount of succinct, useful information that may benefit me as a PA. I am told I can follow medical news among other important national and world developments and I won't feel so out of touch when it comes to popular culture or cute cats. It does stand to reason that if 140 characters can convey a witty comment, a thought-provoking question, or perhaps a very important tidbit of information, it may actually be an efficient way to monitor and access information.

When I become @amyklingler, I am going to need some guidance and perhaps a little lesson in Twitter etiquette with all of its @'s and #'s and common abbreviations. I welcome suggestions for interesting people and organizations to follow. Number one on my list @JAAPAcom.

Amy Klingler practices primary care at the Salmon River Clinic in Stanley, Idaho. This blog post expresses her personal views and does not express or represent the views or policies of AAPA.