Yahoo Answers

Often when I am bored, I find myself answering questions on Yahoo Answers. I love the feeling I get when I provide an answer and it gets voted by the Asker as the Best Answer. More than that, I like reading the comments of the asker, located at the bottom of my answer.

I have seen some very funny questions asked on Yahoo Answers. There was one in which the person was asking how it felt to cut deep enough to go to the hospital. Thinking that they were going to commit suicide, I urged them not to and said that life was worth living and went into detail about my own experiences. I was embarrassed when they said that they didn't want to commit suicide.

There also have been a share of ones that I have felt very confident that I knew a lot about, mostly pertaining to knee injuries, especially in subluxation/dislocation of the patella (kneecap). I have had to deal with knee problems for years, and I pass on the knowledge I have gained to others that suffer with similar problems. However, I am smart to always advise people to go to the doctor when I feel like something severe has happened. I want to help people, yet I want people to get the best answer that they can, and this can often be through a doctor that they can trust.

I have also had to deal with some pretty depressing questions and have had to deal with people that are discouraged. I have been in the same position as well, and I have discovered that the best thing that one can do is to encourage others and be a sense of support for them. One such question pertained to someone whose best friend was involved in a car accident and had suffered a broken spine and several other injuries, and she was wondering if she would be fine. I have been graced never to be in this position, but that still didn't give me any excuse to try to not answer this question. I told her that her friend would probably be okay, but that she needed to remain positive no matter what. I felt sorry for her because I know that I could very well be in her same position, or worse. I could discover that my best friend is hospitalized or dead today or tomorrow. This reminds us that life is so fragile, and can end unexpectedly and seemingly too early.

While I may be dealing with questions online, I do not forget that there are people on the other end of the computer. It would be easy for me to be smart to some people, as some questions can appear rather stupid. It's also rather easy to misread emotions and have your emotions misread online, as people do not have access to seeing the other person's face. In not seeing another person's face, people are forced to go off of cues included in the e-mail, such as language and emoticons. These are misread easily, for example, a grateful and friendly attitude can be viewed as flirtatious without further cues saying the contrary.

I believe that answering questions about common health problems and basic first aid can be a good starting point in dealing with people and gaining confidence. When a person has a higher (25% or more) Best Answer ratio on Yahoo Answers, this can indicate that they are giving good, detailed answers that are benefiting the Askers. Once perfected, it doesn't take much to go from online to in-person answers. Granted, answering questions to people's faces may end up more nerve-racking as people are allowed to interact with the person answering the question, knowing that they have thoroughly answered questions like this in the past may help give them the confidence to get over this intimidating barrier of face-to-face contact.

So while I am bored, I will continue to answer questions on Yahoo Answers and gain knowledge in basic health issues and first aid. Hopefully I can use the knowledge I gain in my future Nursing (and possible doctor) career.