That was the question asked this morning on Today. An entire segment was done on the programs showing the views of people and doctors about this newly coined term describing the behavior in people. 

Admit it. . . when you or someone in your family doesn’t feel well you go right to your computer and google the symptoms to try to do a self diagnosis. If you do this all of the time and jump to drastic diagnosis without seeing a medical professional, then you may be a cyberchondriac. 

So what is cyberchondria? Some information on it can be found on  Wikipedia. Basically as was the case with books, people are self diagnosing. The difference is the internet allows for more information to get quickly and scare yourself. Most people think they have something horrible from the items found, when in reality it is usually something very different when they see their doctor. Another danger is someone may think they have something simple, not see their health care professional to save money. In the end they may be wasting valuable time to treat something serious like cancer. 

So please be careful with what you read and be sure to see a doctor if things do not get better after a day or two.

C’est Moi