A person who compulsively searches the internet for information about particular real or imagined symptoms of illness.
‘everybody is terribly health-conscious these days—it's no surprise that many people are becoming cyberchondriacs’
‘There's a couple of things that you can do to sort of do safe surfing without becoming a cyberchondriac.’
‘So to become a "cyberchondriac" and join the 80 percent of Americans who scour the Web for health information, click here for the latest.’
‘Just don't become a cyberchondriac, will you?’
‘Are you a cyberchondriac?’
‘Health information online is breeding a generation of cyberchondriacs.’
‘Like hypochondriacs constantly imagining they have various fatal illnesses, cyberchondriacs declare themselves outrageously sick after reading medical material on the Web.’
‘The percentage of all adults who are cyberchondriacs increased from 27% in 1998 to 34% in 1999, 47% in 2001, and 53% in 2002.’
‘Cyberchondriacs are less likely to be older people and people with low incomes.’
‘Doctors are on the alert for a new kind of victim: the cyberchondriac. With so much health information now in the Internet, thousands of people are using their computers to try to match symptoms with diseases.’
‘She suggests that fellow cyberchondriacs try what worked for her: 'I stopped looking up my symptoms on the Internet'!’
‘It is because cyberchondriacs fervently believe they are physically ill that they get so frustrated when told they are not.’
‘Australian doctors have warned that they are coming across various 'cyberchondriacs' - patients who misdiagnose their illnesses after Googling their symptoms.’
‘Self-diagnosis is dodgy at best and when it comes to trying to determine whether you are a cyberchondriac, it's bit of a Catch-22 situation.’
‘Many health professionals warn the web has created a world of cyberchondriacs.’
‘If you're one of those people who frequently looks up their symptoms online and then panics at the diagnosis, or rather 'search results', it's possible that you're displaying all the hallmarks of a cyberchondriac.’
‘One of the main problems that cyberchondriacs face is that the web is not always reliable.’