BarryG
Extremely helpful member
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2008
- Messages
- 3,000
- Diagnosis
- 02/2008
- Country
- CA
- State
- Alberta
- City
- Hinton
Hello everyone,
While I was reading Lorie's blog on Cyberchondria (thanks Lorie) I thought that this topic should be brought forward for all of those people out there who are looking for answers to medical problems that they are having.
There are many web sites that talk about how the internet can influence how we deal with medical issues and how the information that we get by using common search engines is influenced by what others do. I never thought about how search engines determine what comes up first but the usual way is to use mathematical algorithms that rank pages and turn up results based on how many times a keyword is mentioned, how many clicks a page receives and how many links there are on a page. So the more worried users that click on a page containing information about a rare illness the higher the ranking that the page receives. This leads to a cycle where another person is more likely to come across that page too. So the more that look the more that find. Look for twitches, find ALS and then others will too.
An interesting web site is one called "What is cyberchondria?" on HowStuffWorks.com. It examines how some researchers claim that cyberchondria has evolved from simply being online hypochondria because it affects more that one person. Not only does it affect the information that others find but it also affects how a person relates and deals with their doctor because many value the internet information more than the doctor's.
One other very important point that the article makes is that internet searches usually lead to a person investigating the worst case possibility rather than taking the more likely and less serious reason for their symptoms. In a survey of 500 Microsoft employees nine out of 10 said that a Web search for basic medical information led to researching a more serious condition.
So the problem is definitely bigger than we here on the forum can deal with because it involves the very nature of the internet and how reliant we have all become on it. No one would argue to not have the information out there but it should be remembered that you get what you pay for and free information may be good or it may be worthless. Buyer beware. My Dad used to tell me "Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see".
That is my Monday rant and here is the link to the article:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/cyberchondria.htm
While I was reading Lorie's blog on Cyberchondria (thanks Lorie) I thought that this topic should be brought forward for all of those people out there who are looking for answers to medical problems that they are having.
There are many web sites that talk about how the internet can influence how we deal with medical issues and how the information that we get by using common search engines is influenced by what others do. I never thought about how search engines determine what comes up first but the usual way is to use mathematical algorithms that rank pages and turn up results based on how many times a keyword is mentioned, how many clicks a page receives and how many links there are on a page. So the more worried users that click on a page containing information about a rare illness the higher the ranking that the page receives. This leads to a cycle where another person is more likely to come across that page too. So the more that look the more that find. Look for twitches, find ALS and then others will too.
An interesting web site is one called "What is cyberchondria?" on HowStuffWorks.com. It examines how some researchers claim that cyberchondria has evolved from simply being online hypochondria because it affects more that one person. Not only does it affect the information that others find but it also affects how a person relates and deals with their doctor because many value the internet information more than the doctor's.
One other very important point that the article makes is that internet searches usually lead to a person investigating the worst case possibility rather than taking the more likely and less serious reason for their symptoms. In a survey of 500 Microsoft employees nine out of 10 said that a Web search for basic medical information led to researching a more serious condition.
So the problem is definitely bigger than we here on the forum can deal with because it involves the very nature of the internet and how reliant we have all become on it. No one would argue to not have the information out there but it should be remembered that you get what you pay for and free information may be good or it may be worthless. Buyer beware. My Dad used to tell me "Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see".
That is my Monday rant and here is the link to the article:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/cyberchondria.htm
