cyberchondria

Noun

cyberchondria (uncountable)

1. Anxiety concerning one's health, caused by visiting medical websites.
   • [Sam] Altman’s mother, a dermatologist named Connie Gibstine, told me, “Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He’ll call and say he has a headache—and he’ll have Googled it, so there’s some cyber-chondria in there, too.2016 October 3, Tad Friend, quoting Connie Gibstine, “Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny”, in The New Yorker, archived from the original on 08 Mar 2018
   • Using “Dr Google” for health purposes is controversial. Some have expressed concerns that it can lead to inaccurate diagnoses, bad advice on where to seek treatment (triage), and increased anxiety (cyberchondria). […] Marcantonio Spada, an academic psychologist at London South Bank University who...2021 March 29, Natalie Grover, “Looking up health symptoms online less harmful than thought, study says”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Mar 2022

   Synonyms:

   compucondria