Does anyone miss the 90s when we couldn't search our health symptoms online?

[Lily83]

This forum does help as it links people with health anxiety as a support group, but the main culprit of my health anxiety is googling and knowing too much about the "What ifs" of the diseases I'm worried about.

Not only that, but I feel when we weren't all connected to technology with the internet and social media, life was actually a lot nicer

I miss the simple life of sending letters to friends and talking to them on the phone and leaving a mystery to how we live our lives rather than spreading it all on social media and feeling depressed if you're not living a great life as some people portray.

Off topic, but I miss quality tv before all these channels appeared with trashy shows and rubbish music. I miss Top of the Pops, Friends, and The Big Breakfast. I miss comedy and lightheartedness. TV shows and movies are just too damn serious nowadays and everyone wants to kill each other. The last great movie I saw was The Intern starring Robert De Niro.

Of course I was a young teen in the 90s so maybe that's what I miss too, but I miss simplicity

[BrokenGirl]

Totally agree with you. I was a teenager too in the 90's and I sooooo miss the simpler life. And definitely miss not knowing much about health and diseases. Since my HA started almost 10 yrs ago and I made my dreaded connection with Dr Google, I have learned so much about diseases, symptoms, causes etc and for my own sake I know way too much now. If I never had the internet I know for a fact that I either wouldn't have HA or if I did it wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as it is.
Advancement in technology is great but I really think sometimes that it's gone too far and life will never be the same again............

[WiredIncorrectly]

I'm not sure because my anxiety was bad around 17 years old. At that time I wasn't Googling. There wasn't any easily accessible medical information online at that time.

[cattia]

I was just as anxious in the 90s, I used to spend hours in the medical section of bookshops and libraries. It took longer to find the information but at the end of the day, the obsessive thought and behaviour patterns were still just the same for me then as they are now.

[WiredIncorrectly]

I was just as anxious in the 90s, I used to spend hours in the medical section of bookshops and libraries. It took longer to find the information but at the end of the day, the obsessive thought and behaviour patterns were still just the same for me then as they are now.

Ha! Yes. I can relate to that. I used to spend every day in the library in the medical section. It's the same anxiety, just a different method of accessing the information.

[Anxiousamyj]

Yes! I was a young teenager in the 90s and I was still a hypochondriac. However, the difference was that I trusted doctors. When they told me I was fine, I moved on. I was totally ok most of the time. I’m doing loads better now after a course of CBT and I’m not googling anymore. I have definitely fallen into some deep rabbit holes thanks to dr. Google. I sometimes wish the internet would disappear. I do like paying bills online though. And playing candy crush saga. Lol

[Blonde123]

Definitely! I had no anxiety in the 90s I was fit and well and loving life carefree. Now I’m 42 and constantly thinking what if after every ache

[Fishmanpa]

While I never had this issue, I guess I'm getting old because I miss those times when people weren't glued to their phones and computers. We've become a world of people who observe as opposed to live life.

Positive and nostalgic thoughts

[WiredIncorrectly]

While I never had this issue, I guess I'm getting old because I miss those times when people weren't glued to their phones and computers. We've become a world of people who observe as opposed to live life.

Positive and nostalgic thoughts

So true. I was saying this to the wife the other day.

Kids born today will be born into this. They know no different. We're just the grumpy old men. It's evolution I guess, but I feel technology is moving way faster than we can evolve and adapt. As a result the brain is thrown off-kilter. The virtual reality is more appealing than current reality, hence why we all love it. It's only going to get worse.

You've seen Black Mirror right? Most of those episodes predict the technological future.

[ColdHands]

I was just as anxious in the 90s, I used to spend hours in the medical section of bookshops and libraries. It took longer to find the information but at the end of the day, the obsessive thought and behaviour patterns were still just the same for me then as they are now.

This! I had a set of encyclopedias at home i looked up stuff in and was always at the library looking things up. Also, I used to call those "ask a nurse" lines all the time. So just because its easier now, doesn't mean I didn't do it then. I do miss the times when my mania was about stuff I didn't have though, and now I keep having real stuff happen. I was a teen in the 80s and though I wasn't as freaked about medical stuff back then, it was other things. My biggest fear as a kid and young teen was storms and tornadoes. I live in the midwest of the US and its common here. So I got over that and graduated on to medical stuff in my 20s.