Social media and anxiety

[Whatsinaname]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been touched on before but a quick search didn't show up much.

I've always had anxiety around people to some degree, but with social media it's really hard because its always "there."

I used to have a fake name on my Facebook but felt like I was hiding so have since changed it back.

Today I was scrolling through tictok and a random live video from someone I dont know came up, which I usually skip, but it said "you are mentioned in this live video" the lady then proceeded to say "hi xxxx" which really freaked me out. Odds are its some kind of add because I quickly scrolled on but then went back and it seemed to start from where it did the first time but in my panic I closed it and will never see it again (unless it an add haha). I've also never done a live video so it potentially just tells them who has just started viewing.

But just wondering if anyone else finds it hard to be available online for anyone to find. Not even sure why I dont like it but its something that always makes me uncomfortable.

Thanks as always,

[BipolarBro]

You aren’t alone with this. I used to be addicted to social media, now I feel similarly to you. I freak out if I see a notification from Facebook or IG, I have deleted all my photos and the photos I’m tagged in, and changed them to fake names. I have bad paranoia in general, I think this is just a manifestation of the paranoia, feeling like people could even be thinking about me makes me feel uncomfortable and removing all traces of myself is comforting. I don’t think it’s a good thing though, social media makes socialising a lot easier and doing this has worsened my isolation.

happy new year