Disease maps are a compelling case for “ignorance is bliss,” but if you’re wondering who in your neighborhood has the flu, well, there’s an app for that. Johnson & Johnson’s Healthyday crowdsources data from doctor’s offices, local Google searches, and status updates on Twitter and Facebook to map health trends, specifying symptoms as “flu,” “cold,” or “allergy” so users can take an educated guess as to the cause of that stuffy nose. Healthyday additionally allows users to break down the reports so they can target the exact streets where coughs and other ailments occurred. “[The goal is] to really give you this idea for the first time, the honest to God answer to ‘what’s going around?'” Eric Weisberg, the executive creative director at ad agency JWT, said. (Healthyday app/iTunes) “Despite living in a digital age, no one else has yet addressed these common health issues in a mobile format,” Sumeet Narula, Digital Brand Manager for McNeil Consumer Healthcare, said in a company statement. The app is free to download — but do you really want to know? Jeva Lange
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