Health anxiety has been around for a long, long time. It’s been called hypochondria or hypochondriasis. The official name is illness anxiety disorder. By any name, the concept of experiencing relentless worry about one’s state of health is far from new. That said, it sure kicked into high gear about five years ago.

The rise of social media reads like a work of fiction. In 2012, it was something that only 5 percent of adults participated in. Fast forward to today, and that number is at least 73 percent.

For most of human existence, we were mostly unaware of what was happening just a few towns over — never mind on another continent. So, while the digital age has brought some interesting developments, it’s also set us up to be bombarded with information.

Go ahead and log onto any social media platform. In less than a minute of scrolling, you’re bound to encounter some kind of post that mentions narcissism.

Thanks to the introduction of social media, most of us now appreciate how widespread anxiety disorders are. Everyone talks about them, complains about them, and makes memes about them.

Not that long ago, human beings were not inundated with updates (real or fake) from all corners of the earth. While it can be important to keep up with certain developments, we mostly end up overwhelmed by the deluge.