How the platforms designed to bring us together might be making your OCD and anxiety worse
Emma scrolls through Instagram for the third time in an hour, her thumb moving automatically as she checks each post twice, then three times. She tells herself she’s just staying connected with friends, but deep down, she knows something feels off. The platform that once brought her joy now feels like a trap she can’t escape.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Recent research reveals that adolescents with mental health conditions spend significantly more time on social media and report less satisfaction with their online relationships. For those struggling with OCD and anxiety disorders, social media can transform from a tool for connection into a source of compulsion.
The Numbers Behind the Problem
The statistics paint a concerning picture of social media’s impact on mental health:
- Adolescents with internalizing conditions reported spending more time on social media and engaging in more social comparison than those without conditions
- Social media use has been linked to increased rates of anxiety and depression among young people
For individuals already struggling with OCD or anxiety, these platforms can amplify existing symptoms and create new compulsive behaviors.
The Perfect Double-Edged Storm: Social Media Meets OCD
Social media platforms are designed to be engaging, but for individuals with OCD, these same features can become triggers as well as compulsive behaviors. The endless scroll, the need to check notifications, and the pressure to present a perfect online image can all feed into existing anxiety and OCD symptoms.
While social media can exacerbate OCD and anxiety symptoms, it’s important to acknowledge that these platforms also offer genuine benefits. For many, social media provides:
- Community and support: Online support groups can connect individuals with others who understand their struggles
- Education and awareness: Platforms can help people learn about mental health conditions and available treatments
- Professional resources: Many mental health professionals, including those at Renewed Freedom Center, use social media to share educational content and reduce stigma
The key is learning to harness these benefits while minimizing the potential for harm.
Social media platforms are designed to be engaging, but for individuals with OCD, these same features can become triggers for compulsive behaviors. The endless scroll, the need to check notifications, and the pressure to present a perfect online image can all feed into existing anxiety and OCD symptoms, creating a cycle that becomes increasingly difficult to break.
How Social Media Triggers OCD Behaviors
The Checking Compulsion
One of the most common ways social media affects those with OCD is through checking behaviors. What starts as a quick glance at notifications can spiral into hours of compulsive scrolling. Research shows that 95% of teens have access to a smartphone, and for those with OCD, this constant access can fuel checking compulsions.
Perfectionism and Social Comparison
Social media’s highlight reel culture can be particularly damaging for individuals with OCD-related perfectionism. The pressure to curate the perfect post, combined with constant comparison to others’ seemingly perfect lives, can intensify anxiety and trigger compulsive behaviors around posting and editing content.
Information Seeking and Reassurance
For those with anxiety disorders, social media can become a source of compulsive information seeking. This can present as researching health symptoms, seeking reassurance through comments and likes, or endlessly scrolling news feeds for updates. These behaviors can reinforce anxiety cycles rather than providing genuine relief.
When Connection Becomes Compulsion: Warning Signs
Recognizing when social media use has crossed from healthy engagement to compulsive behavior is crucial. Warning signs include:
- Time-related concerns: Spending hours scrolling without realizing it, or feeling unable to put devices down even when you want to.
- Emotional impact: Feeling anxious, depressed, or agitated after social media use, or experiencing withdrawal-like symptoms when unable to access platforms.
- Compulsive behaviors: Repeatedly checking the same posts, obsessing over likes and comments, or feeling compelled to post and then immediately checking for responses.
- Sleep disruption: Staying up late scrolling or checking social media first thing upon waking.
- Real-world impact: Avoiding in-person social activities in favor of online interaction, or feeling that online relationships are more important than offline ones.
Breaking the Cycle: Strategies for Healthier Social Media Use
Set Boundaries
Creating clear boundaries around social media use can help prevent compulsive behaviors. This might include designated phone-free times, using app timers to limit daily usage, or creating physical boundaries by keeping devices out of bedrooms.
Practice Mindful Engagement
Before opening a social media app, pause and ask yourself: “What am I hoping to achieve?” If the answer is to fill time, seek reassurance, or avoid uncomfortable feelings, consider whether there might be a healthier alternative.
Curate Your Feed
Unfollow accounts that trigger comparison or anxiety, and instead follow accounts that promote mental health awareness and positive content. Remember, you have control over what you see.
Seek Professional Support
If social media use is interfering with your daily life or exacerbating OCD or anxiety symptoms, it may be time to seek professional help.
How RFC Can Help
You will learn strategies for managing technology-related triggers and how to develop a healthier relationship with digital platforms through Renewed Freedom Center’s evidence-based treatment approaches, which include Exposure and Response Prevention therapy (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and mindfulness skills.
Our individually tailored treatment options include:
- Diagnostic & treatment planning evaluation to understand how social media may be impacting your OCD or anxiety
- Individual therapy focused on breaking compulsive cycles
- Group therapy where you can connect with others facing similar challenges
- Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) for those needing more support
The encouraging news? Many of our patients achieve meaningful progress in managing their OCD and anxiety symptoms through our evidence-based treatment programs, learning tools they can apply to all areas of their lives, including their relationship with technology.
Taking the First Step
If you recognize yourself in this article, remember that seeking help is a sign of strength, not weakness. Social media doesn’t have to control your life, and with the right support, you can develop a healthier relationship with technology while managing your OCD or anxiety symptoms.
Working to accommodate your schedule, RFC accepts both in-person and telehealth patients within the state of California. We offer a complimentary 30-minute phone consultation where you can discuss how social media might be impacting your mental health and learn about treatment options.
As one of our patients, Nancy, shared: “Though I had suffered from OCD since childhood, I had no idea how atrocious this illness could become… Now that it’s been almost 2 years since I began your program, I continue to be able to manage my OCD with the tools you taught me.”
Don’t let social media compulsions control your life. Take the first step toward freedom today.
