The View from the Office.

I met up with Caroline Behr at Two Hands in Nolita. She had tea; I had a flat white. We both had croissants.

Caroline is a physician at Mount Sinai Hospital. She and her husband Fri moved to the city recently for work.

We were connected by Matt Zeigler, a friend who is a financial advisor and podcast host. 

I first asked her what I ask everyone in healthcare: Have you seen The Pitt?

She said she didn’t feel the need to watch The Pitt because she lives the Pitt everyday at the hospital.

Instead, we talked about medicine and technology and she ended up teaching me a lot about social media.

Specifically, she said she follows a lot of younger doctors who are posting educational content online. 

Inevitably, when senior physicians discover the posts – and particularly the follower counts – they are confused and a bit flummoxed.

There seems to be a sense of FOMO accompanied by jealousy. They wonder: why are people with less experience getting so much attention?

I’m fascinated by this dynamic in which the visibility social media can create has the capacity to upend a traditional hierarchy.

My take is that the Internet – just like nature – abhors a vacuum. If older people choose to cede the field, it creates opportunities for younger folks.

In medicine, that can have a financial cost because it’s valuable to be included in the rankings of doctors and hospitals, such as those compiled by US News & World Report.  And being visible online can either make it more likely you are included.

Caroline is not a big poster on social media at the moment but I encouraged her to start a podcast with her mom, who is also a doctor. 

I imagined them talking about trends and comparing cases. I think it would be compelling. 

They could even break down each episode of The Pitt.