Over the past 15 years advances in technologies and the internet has made it possible for just about anyone to gain access to emense amounts of information. Information that is accessed includes anything from music and entertainment to politics and pressing issues around the world. The internet has also become an integral part of public health surveillance. The internet has been credited by many to the reduced time in recognizing outbreaks, preventing gov. from suppressing outbreak information, and facilitating the public health response.
Advances in technology have made access to information and breaking news available to the general public. While this access to information is a great tool, information portrayed wrongly can have a negative affect on society. Recently the scare on swine flue has been spread across the world. While a new strain of the flue can be a serious issue, the media in general have been overly dooms-dayish about how they report on health issues that has created hypersensitivity in society. The swine flue scare hit while I was in Japan living in Japan. Although only a few people in the area which I lived at the time got sick, schools and public gatherings in the area were closed for literally millions of people. The coverage of recent health "epidemics" has caused a boy cry wolf effect in society. When an actually epidemic does hit, society may not react like they should.
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I agree that the media can exaggerate and that the exaggeration can lead to undue panic. I don't know if I agree though that the public won't respond when there is truly an epidemic. I think that the general public is smart enough to figure out when there is truly an emergency.
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