Cyberchondria and Its Cure

Cyberchondria is the new digital default. As more people turn to the internet for health advice, anxiety is rising with every search. According to scholars from Imperial College London and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the ‘excessive’ use of the internet to interpret symptoms is leading to the ‘prevalence of health anxiety’. 

This was back in 2019, and it is likely that the over-reliance by some on wearables such as smartwatches, Oura rings and Zoe’s continuous glucose monitor are adding to the situation, causing stress and emotional exhaustion. If digital health platforms want to help rather than harm, they need to design with empathy, not just efficiency.

This shift comes at a time when healthcare delivery is rapidly changing. In 2019, more than four in five  (80.7%) GP appointments were face to face in the UK. In 2024, staff delivered two-thirds (66.2%) of appointments face to face and 30% either by telephone or online (source: The Institute for Government). This new age of medicine delivered remotely does not stop at telehealth. 

A November 2024 survey suggests that nearly half (48%) of UK adults have self-diagnosed using health information online at least once in the past year (source: AXA Health). Social media creators are posing as experts to provide health advice while large language models are offering instant diagnoses. But self-diagnosis and fake news have opened the doors to a whole new level of health anxiety fuelled by the digital world. 

These digital spaces often do more harm than good. While some patients attempt to analyse the long-form diagnostics and hundreds of datapoints generated by wearables, others are doomscrolling through unverified information served by an algorithm designed for engagement and sensationalism rather than medical analysis. The user experience quickly becomes riddled with anxiety for anyone researching symptoms.

What mindfulness apps get right

What if, in order to leave a positive impact on users, digital health platforms considered how to rework their user interface and tailor their UX to better understand patients? There is a great deal that health platforms can learn from mindfulness apps, for instance. Often designed to calm and heal, meditation apps address users’ need states with genuine understanding – and offer a compelling design language.

California-based Open, which self-defines as a ‘mindfulness studio’, blends sound, breath, movement and visuals to ground the senses. The app delivers personalisation through carefully considered features, including calendars, navigation, emotionally charged design, browsing by need state and artful gradients. The result is an intelligent and elegant space that responds to each user’s state of mind. 

Beyond emotion, one brand tackling complexity head-on is Apossible. Created in 2023, this non-profit-making research and design initiative brings together creative minds, innovators and psychological researchers to develop technology that ‘serves what makes us human, empowers the best in us and enables human fulfilment’. Apossible’s website is built for discovery, using modular, exploratory layouts that mirror how users naturally uncover information. This immersive UX reduces noise, which could be helpful during emotionally charged health moments.

Reducing noise also comes with simplifying. Nothing, the British consumer electronics manufacturer, has made simplified UX its signature. The brand’s confident and simple interaction design eliminates cognitive friction so that users feel in control and emotionally at ease. Unconventional layouts that integrate thumbnails function like widgets, enabling users to access more information. Nothing hides specs behind folders, while immersive soundscapes are only a click away. 

Building the UX blueprint for trust

Healthcare platforms, from the NHS app to private providers of health information such as Healthline, could take cues here and structure information to help anxious users unpack it at their own pace, without being bombarded by worst-case scenarios.

The common thread across these platforms is great digital design that isn’t about dumping endless information. Instead, they curate spaces that understand user needs. Open has empathy for the user, Apossible is designed for user discovery and Nothing understands how to simplify hierarchy for the end user. 

To prevent cyberchondria from becoming the new normal, the roadmap for digital health platforms is to start by recognising that patients are searching for answers. Therefore, the journey from question to solution should support the patient throughout the exploration phase and build trust before delivering health information that encourages better outcomes in preventative care.

Jay Topham is the co-founder and creative director of Unfound Studio, a London consultancy combining brand expertise with cultural insights.