Is spending that much time on the internet good for your health? The millions of people who frantically track their social lives on Facebook and other such networking sites now have a reason to stay online even longer, with the release of a new social networking tool to help Canadians self-manage their illnesses at the click of a mouse.

Two years ago, frustrated with traditional health care establishments and research funding agencies who, he said, only invested in curing diseases rather than supporting those living with them, University of Toronto professor Alex Jadad contacted Dennis Bennie, a managing partner of equity investment firm XDL Capital Group, with a proposal for the novel health care system.

Known as Wellocities, the site claims to provide the first online, community- based health directory of services and resources for Canadians.

“The idea [of the website] became more and more of a reality, and was molded into something that would really be a very practical solid idea,” said Bennie, who began investing in the proposed project.

Designed by a community of patients and health care professionals, Wellocities caters to those who want to dabble in managing their own health-care. The site offers alternatives and information about illnesses and provides resources such as medication and medical devices that, according to Jadad, could help people increase their life expectancy.

“We are facing a real tsunami of chronic disease, but the public is not aware of that,” said Jadad, who is also the chairman of Wellocities.

He claimed that 30 to 40 per cent of people in Canada have at least one chronic disease, and that one in three born after 2000 will have diabetes. “The number of people in our society living with a chronic disease is increasing dramatically,” said Jadad.

The site offers a directory of health care professionals and services across Canada, and tools that can help people manage their health, such as a blood-sugar tracker.

The rogue element is the site’s social networking factor, which lets users create or join groups, rate various health-care services, and share first-hand accounts of their health problems. Wellocities can be accessed through Facebook.

“We have a lot of Facebook users at university, and we have perhaps the first generation of university students that we could call digital natives,” said Jadad.

Misery loves company, but what would Wellocities say about eye strain, posture problems and inactivity— symptoms of digital addiction?