★There are those who use social media as a digital diary or be reminded, those who find useful information and those who encounter toxic groups, those who turn the illness experience into new forms of health activism or digital professions. And there are also those who exaggerate or lie uncontrollably.

For a long time the doctor used to be the keeper of confessions, fears and hopes of the sick. Today, however, when we receive a diagnosis we turn to the web, confident that someone online will listen. From patient forums as virtual clinics where we can share symptoms and advice with communities of “peers”, to the first cancer bloggers who went viral by running into communities of followers, to the age of social networking, which has created new roles for those who fall ill, we are facing a rapidly growing social phenomenon that affects us all. Because we can all get sick sooner or later, and because we now spend more time on the Internet than in health care settings. In this book, Cinzia Pozzi delves into the motivations, expectations, and behaviors of #sickpeople who, by networking, find support, but also risk privacy and overexposure to triggering content, clashing with social dynamics that are insensitive to users’ health status. How good is it for you to share your story online when you are sick? With scientific research on the topic being in its infancy and fragmented, there is no definitive answer... there are many.

Cinzia Pozzi is a science journalist and contributor to various Italian and international newspapers and magazines. A molecular biologist by training, she graduated from the University of Edinburgh in digital health, focusing on cancer narratives on social networks. Today she investigates the relationship between medicine and innovation, and the active role of patients in treatment. For Codice edizioni she has already published the essay Foreign Bodies in 2022.