The internet could be fuelling a rise in new conditions such as cyberchondria and cyberhoarding, experts have warned.
While researchers say most internet use is benign, it can lead some people to develop problems. Now experts are calling for more research to understand the range of problems that exist, who might be at risk, and how individuals can be helped.
A new collaboration dubbed the European Problematic Use of the Internet Research Network will examine these and other internet-related health issues such as gambling, pornography and gaming.
Among the issues they are hoping to explore are cyberhoarding – reluctance to delete information gathered online – and cyberchondria – compulsively using search engines and websites in the hope of finding reassurance about medical fears, only to self-diagnose further ailments.
“What [hypochondriacs] used to do was search encyclopaedias and medical dictionaries and so on looking for signs and symptoms that they thought were serious,” said consultant psychiatrist Prof Naomi Fineberg of the University of Hertfordshire. “Of course, with the evolution of online resources people now search the internet for signs and symptoms potentially indicative of a serious disease.”
The problem, she said, is probably under-recognised. “I think it is more common than we realise,” she said. “I have seen it several times in my clinic.”
Cyberhoarding, she added, is another problem researchers are planning to explore further. “Again, nobody knows the extent to which this is developing and causing problems,” she said.
Fineberg said that at present it is unknown whether such problems are purely “digital versions” of analogue conditions. But, she said, the issue merits scrutiny.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
