As an anxious person with a thrill for hypochondria, I sometimes use the internet as a way of diagnosing myself with various ailments. But I’m not alone. According to the latest Pew Research Center Health Fact Sheet, 72% of internet users say they looked online for health information within the past year (this was in 2012) and 35% of U.S. adults say that at one time or another they have gone online specifically to try to figure out what medical condition they or someone else might have.

Within the 35% of people who use the internet to diagnose themselves, this group tends to use it more:

• women
• younger people
• white adults
• those who live in a household incomes earning $75,000 or more
• college degree or advanced degree

I fit the demographic almost perfectly. I usually start diagnosing myself by searching google.

But then this happens. As you see, 86,800,000 results pop up in .48 seconds (side note, as I’m writing this, all of a sudden my head seems to hurt). More than 87 million explanations. So how do you decide which sites to trust? I’m probably not alone in clicking the first few websites. But not so much because I trust them as much as it’s convenient. One website that always pops up in the first few searches is WebMD, a website specializing in health information.

According to the WebMD website, the organization “fulfills the promise of health information on the Internet. We provide credible information, supportive communities, and in-depth reference material about health subjects that matter to you. We are a source for original and timely health information as well as material from well known content providers.” Which include:

WebMD provides a lot of information but I’m going to focus on diagnosing symptoms by exploring WebMD’s Symptom Checker. But first, a disclosure. I don’t really use WebMD to check symptoms. It’s more a habit of irrational anxiety. However, more than half of the people who use the internet to look up health information talk to their doctor about what they find.

Symptom Checker:

I start by entering my gender and age. What’s important to note is that age and gender do play a part in the likelihood of certain diseases. It’s also a great way for WebMD to gain valuable analytics about the people who are using their website. What I  immediately notice on this page is the advertisement for Tufts Medical Center. I’m pretty sure I see Tufts because WebMD somehow knows my location. It’s a good strategy for both WebMD and Tufts. First for WebMD, Tufts provides some credibility and trust to the site. If Tufts is advertising, the site must be legit! And for Tufts, it’s about as targeted an advertisement strategy as you can have. People who are looking for medical symptoms are seeing your advertismenet. This bridges both the public sphere of internet knowledge with the private sphere of hospitals.

In the symptom checker you must chose a part of the body that is bothering you. I clicked the scalp region. In the drop down menu of symptoms, I clicked on anxiety.

Quite a few possible conditions populated. If you click on the question mark you can see that WebMD provides a caveat that the symptom checker should not replace a medical professional. However the question mark is a small button. How many people are they hoping click on it?

The possible conditions for a headache relating to anxiety are ranked based on probability The most common conditions show up on top. This is very important. The list would have a different effect if there was no ranking or order.  Organizing information is power.

The most common list is:

Least common

The problem with anxiety is that you are not usually being rational. Thyroid storm sounds a lot more scary and therefore attractive than excessive caffeine use. Mad cow disease doesn’t sound plausible unless you had a hamburger the night before. The fact is, that WebMD may not solve the issue of hypochondriac anxiety, but it can make it better by providing ranking systems, more explanation, and encourage talking to a health care provider.

Before the internet, most people relied on their doctor or social network like friends and family for health related information and support. And to this day, even with the internet, for major medical issues, people still rely on their doctor and social networks. This means that the private health sphere is still dominant. However, the medical profession is not the same. Doctors don’t have as much control over their patients. And patients are informing themselves.

A place like WebMD is where the public and private sphere coexist. The public look for answers, and some medical professionals participate with their expertise. At this point, the symptom checker can’t replace doctors, but what impact tools like this will have in the future, still needs to be seen.