OCD comes in different shapes and sizes and contrary to popular belief it’s doesn’t only involve being organized. It’s far more complex than that. And it can cause tremendous anxiety for people that suffer from it. OCD sufferers are not insane and are completely aware of their condition. With that being said, one of the many types of OCD is what I call “digital OCD” or “internet OCD” which primarily involves using the Internet. It also happens to be my main OCD pattern at the moment as OCD can gradually morph and fluctuate for a person who has OCD.
Digital OCD hampers a person’s ability to use the Internet: A person who suffers from “digital OCD” may find it very hard to use the Internet because many aspects of the internet can cause this person anxiety and worry. Which leads to compulsive behaviors.
Digital OCD can cause problems for a person who relies on the internet: A digital ocd person who has to constantly use the internet, whether it be for school or a job finds it very stressful. Simply hopping onto a computer can cause the person to experience symptoms of anxiety.
It’s very difficult to talk about because it’s very difficult to explain: A person who suffers from digital OCD finds it hard to talk about it with other people because it’s hard to explain and can lead to other people to misinterpret what he or she is going through. How are you going to explain to a person that you are afraid of creating or deleting accounts online? You’ve gotta carefully write it out and rehearse it.
Risks losing career opportunities: A person who tries to open up about their digital OCD will be at great risk of not getting hired by certain employers who are ignorant about what OCD is. And considering how many careers are rapidly becoming digital, it’s only going to get tougher for people who struggle with “digital OCD”.
Potential worries that come with digital OCD: A person that has “digital OCD” may have one or more of the following worries.
- Worries that his or her personal information is compromised just from visiting an unfamiliar website
- worries that he or she accidentally paid for subscription or purchased something online even though he or she didn’t diverge any kind of payment info
- Worries that someone may have gained unauthorized access to his or her online accounts.
- As illogical as it may sound, the person may worry that he or she accidentally gained access to someone else’s online account and that the feds will soon be at their doorsteps.
- Worries about accidentally dropping online account passwords in public
- Worries that someone is watching him or her through the device’s camera and or has unauthorized access the device.
- Worries that he or she might accidentally create a link to his or her personal information when posting on certain websites.
- And the list of worries goes on and on.
Compulsive behaviors used to relieve the “digital OCD” worries: As expected the person will resort to many types of compulsions in order to gain reassurance that everything is alright.
- Constantly revisit certain parts of a website to make sure he or she didn’t put any personal info on it.
- Screenshot parts of a website as reassurance that he or she didn’t put any personal info on a website
- Constantly contacts a website’s support and asks for reassurance that there are no accounts or purchases under his or her name.
- constantly checks to make sure he or she didn’t drop any online account passwords written on paper in public.
- Constantly changes his or her passwords
- Doesn’t use public computers out of fear that he or she might accidentally put personal info on them.
- Go on a deleting spree of accounts he or she no longer uses. From old email accounts to accounts on websites that he or she doesn’t visit anymore.
- Constantly contacts the organizations that are responsible for his or her personal information in order to get reassurance that his or her personal info isn’t compromised.
- Create boundaries as in only visiting websites he or she is familiar with.
- constantly deleting browsing history, cookies and data from his or her device.
- Constantly factory resetting his or her device out of fear that someone is watching them through the device’s camera or has unauthorized access to his or her device.
- constantly making sure there aren’t any unrecognized online accounts somehow connected to his or her recovery options.
- Compulsively checking for unauthorized payments or hidden fees before deleting his or her account from a website out of fear that he or she may be responsible for unauthorized payments or fees, even though no such payments or fees exist.
- Compiles hundreds of screenshot photos on his or her device of websites as reassurance that he or she didn’t put any personal information on the website.
How Digital OCD has been affecting me: Digital OCD has been quite a hassle for me lately. I find myself being unable to use the internet like I use to prior to my OCD morphing into digital OCD. And most of my anxiety at the moment is the result of this digital OCD. For privacy reasons, I am not going to go into great detail of how digital OCD affects me. So I’ll just give one example of how it affects me.
- Over a span of two weeks I constantly emailed the support of a website for reassurance that I didn’t accidentally create an account or made any accidental purchases on their website. Fortunately the person I talked to was very nice and understanding of what I was going through, so this person gave me all the necessary reassurance that I had nothing to worry about.
How to fight back against digital OCD: I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone talk about digital OCD but from my experience there are 8 ways of keeping digital OCD at bay. Most are the same methods used to combat cognitive distortions.
- Resist the compulsions: As contradictory as it sounds. One of the best ways to fight back is to resist your compulsions. That doesn’t mean you can’t reassurance. But don’t over do it. Get reassurance once and then go on with your day. Try see how long you can go without seeking reassurance again. It’s not easy, you will feel extreme anxiety at first but if you resist long enough, you will eventually feel the worry and urge to take part in compulsory behavior gradually dwindle. And eventually you’ll realize that your worry is not a real threat.
- Talk about it with those you trust: Let those you trust know what you are going through. Whether it be friends and or family, knowing that there are people who have your back can be very soothing.
- Join ocd support groups: With society gradually becoming more aware of what OCD is, there are many OCD support groups being formed by people who either have OCD or know someone that has OCD. For example there are quite a few on Facebook which are free and private.
- Using medicine: If your digital ocd is greatly impairing your daily activities, especially your job performance make sure to get the necessary medicinal treatment. It can be either pharmaceutical or herbal depending on your preference and needs.
- Get all the facts: Many times the main source of a digital OCD worry is that you don’t know all the facts about your worry. Most of your worry is based on pure speculation rather than actual facts. Many times your speculations are completely inaccurate. And likewise, many times the actual facts are nowhere near as drastic as your speculations.
- Make the necessary adjustment: Many times there is some kind of adjustment that needs to be made in your life. Maybe the source of your digital ocd could be that you have too many email accounts that you don’t even use, why not delete some of those email accounts?
- Entertain yourself: Watching movies, tv shows, YouTube videos or just listening to music can be very therapeutic and can actually numb the worry at the moment as a result of entertainment working as distractions.
- Exercise: Working out can also be therapeutic since you are distracting yourself from the worry by focusing on the exercise. Going out for long walks, jogs or hikes can help soothe the mind as the sunlight and fresh air are known for keeping the brain healthy.
- Praying: If you are a believer then you know just how much prayer helps. Even from a scientific perspective, it’s been proven that praying can be very therapeutic for the mind and the nerves.
Conclusion: Do you have “Digital/internet OCD” or know someone that has this OCD pattern?
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