Thursday, November 27, 2008

Too much information

We were warned about it when studying Psychology but I don't think it had a name then - the syndrome where first year university students develop all kind of "illnesses" through their exposure to information in text books about those illnesses. Well, now there is a name for it - or its counterpart on the web - cyberchrondia. Cyberchrondia is defined in a study by Ryen White and Eric Horvitz as "unfounded increases in health anxiety based on the review of web content". And there is no shortage of medical sites or content on the Internet - some of which is incredibly helpful for getting more information about a specific condition- including, in some instances, suggestions for questions to ask your doctor.

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