Emergency Network

While visiting my uncle in the hospital last week, my aunt was swamped with text messages from family members and friends wondering how my uncle was doing.  This was the first time that she had been dealing with reaching out to family members mostly by text.  I remember when I was younger and my grandparents or other family members were sick, there would be a big call network where each of my parents brothers and sisters would be in charge of reaching out to different family members.  Most people wouldn't even have the number for the land line in the hospital room where the sick relative was staying.  This time however, my aunt was the hub, similar to the simulation we did in class to figure out what shape each group was missing.  Although texting is often more convenient than making a phone call, in this situation it would have been easier to call a few relatives and have them spread word that everything was OK instead of being in charge of contacting everyone.

It may have been easier for my aunt to send and email or try and make calls like the way my family's emergency network used to work, but since everyone had her cell phone number, people were trying to directly contact her anyways.  Also, not all of my relatives use email or check their messages regularly, so it's not the most reliable way to contact family members anyways.