The internet has made everyone a medical expert, but it only makes things worse for patients.

It turns out that this kind of self-diagnosis does more than just throw you off track—it has a long-term impact on medicine as a whole. Patients who’ve spent too much time on WebMD (the go-to resource for medications, diseases, and treatments) are pressuring doctors to overprescribe antibiotics, which, in turn, is fueling antibiotic resistance.

According to Wired (a monthly magazine about the impact of technology on culture, economics, and politics), healthcare professionals say they are concerned about poor patient satisfaction, and negative online reviews are creating a «Yelp effect,» which encourages doctors to make decisions based on what patients want rather than, you know, traditional medicine.

And it seems patients are putting their faith in antibiotics: a 2016 study of a large group of medical records found that a third of antibiotic prescriptions were written for viral infections, which, as you probably know, don’t respond to antibiotics.

David Huynh, a pediatric infectious disease specialist who recently led a review into why doctors misprescribe antibiotics, comments, «Providers believe, whether it’s accurate or not, that there’s a commercial reason for it, related to customer satisfaction, patient retention, giving patients what they want» (via Wired). «We often hear providers say, ‘If I don’t give antibiotics, the patient will cross the street, go to the ER or another primary care provider, and pick them up there.'»

Wired reports the problem is so bad that there’s even a Change.org petition from Physicians Working Together asking Yelp to remove negative reviews of doctors.

Huhn’s research has shown that there are many other reasons why doctors might make unnecessary prescriptions, such as being exhausted at the end of the day (when doctors are most likely to prescribe antibiotics). But of all the «squeaky wheels» (errors) in medicine, whiny patients seem to be the easiest to correct.

Then there’s the role of the internet, which, as it turns out, misleads a hell of a lot of potential patients—a 2013 Pew Research Center study found that 35% of American adults used the internet to diagnose themselves or someone they knew. (That number has likely increased since then, as more and more people become connected to the «world wide web.»)

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with checking a simple symptom to calm your paranoia. But at the same time, you should know that you can’t blindly believe every headline that screams about a recent food causing cancer. You should also understand that it’s ultimately up to a doctor, who has an average of 14 years of training (in the US), to decide whether you’re okay or not. Or whether you’ll even need that antibiotic you saw on WebMD.

So, be an adult. Don’t leave nasty Yelp reviews for doctors who don’t give you what you want. Don’t take antibiotics when you don’t need them, because they might actually save your life one day.