In the rise of social media and the internet, it’s also possible for this platform to the ground on which one’s obsessions stake their claim. The internet can trigger fears and anxiety about how you are interacting with others online, or other aspects of your online behavior. It can also be a highly accessible tool for checking, trying to learn more to rule something out. The “what if” questions, just as they can pertain to nearly any aspect of life outside of the internet, can also manifest to anything on the internet. One person gave their example,

“When I’m not on this site, I have, like, literal heart palpitations,” she says. “What if there’s a thread I should be commenting on? What if there’s some post I should be liking? What if, what if, what if… I hate it and wish I could quit.”

There is no official DSM way of capturing the influence technology and the internet has on superthinkers’ symptoms, but there’s no denying that this nearly ubiquitous component of our lives plays into OCD symptoms.

Read the full post from One Zero on Medium here.

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