Digital Hypochondriacs: The Danger Of Using The Internet To Self-diagnose
The digital world and the existence of the Internet mean that our way of thinking has changed a lot in just a few decades. It is easy to find positive aspects to this fact: now we have it easier to access large amounts of information, and it is even offers us the possibility of being (or appearing) potentially wise with the simple ability to search for data on Google.
However, there are certain cases in which this kind of expanded collective mind that is the Internet works against us, and one of the clearest examples is found in the digital hypochondria.
Have you ever been tempted to search for information on the Internet about possible diseases that may be behind symptoms you are experiencing? Not surprisingly, your answer to the question is a resounding “yes.”
This is not a bad thing in itself, since if you have good sources of information and you take what you read with a critical spirit, the fact of searching for certain data on the Internet is no longer just another search activity. of interesting information that, if necessary, may lead to a medical consultation.
However, when the appearance of a slight uncertainty about some symptoms inevitably leads to self-diagnosis by reading texts on the Internet, most likely we are not talking about a certain search for informationbut of digital hypochondriaalso called cyberchondria.
Digital hypochondria or cyberchondriais a recently appeared word that, despite not appearing in diagnostic manuals, It serves to designate a style of behavior that is very harmful both for the people who experience it and for the health community. It alludes to the concepts of cybernetics and hypochondria, which is a mental disorder in which the person unfoundedly believes that they have one or more diseases based on very weak, ambiguous or totally imaginary evidence.
It seems crazy to many people that someone would think they have Parkinson’s disease because they spilled water from a glass they were holding in their hand on three occasions, but it may seem less bizarre if we introduce the Internet factor into this equation.
The Internet has a practically infinite amount of information that is not always easy to interpret and that in many cases is erroneous, and it also puts all this within reach of a few clicks. If we add to this the fact that in situations of uncertainty the options with the most alarming consequences All numbers have the potential to attract more attention than the rest of the possible interpretations. and that human beings have an unusual capacity to identify with ambiguous descriptions (something called the Forer effect), the chances of panicking increase.
The negative effects of digital hypochondria
Turning to Internet search engines at the slightest symptom suspected of masking an illness has a series of negative consequences that are self-explanatory:
To do?
In order not to fall into a dynamic of behavior that drags us towards something similar to digital hypochondria, it is good to consider two things:
There is a fine line that separates the possibility of going to the Internet in search of health information and using search engines to self-diagnose diseases.
That is why it is worth keeping in mind that, although it may seem like a lie, something that, in light of certain data, has all the signs of being a disorder or a serious health problem not only does not have to be one, but in many cases it is not (and it is even less likely that the self-diagnosis coincides with the diagnosis of an expert).
