Roblox, and this might be stupid

I’m 16 so I’ve only really come to terms with the fact that the majority of Roblox is not my age and now I’m rethinking a lot of interactions I had in the past which weren’t sexual or explicitly romantic but like you know, I’m either playing along when someone is being playfully romantic (cuz obv were strangers and not actually here to date) no I’m just having a normal interaction with them and Im a little blushy(?) behind the screen and this is when I assume that they are my age or they tell me that they are my age and I’m just questioning that because obviously I’m older now and people can easily lie about their age or they could definitely not be my age when I assumed that they were my age. And yeah like I said again it’s not sexual or like actually seriously romantic. If someone like playfully flirted with me and I assume their age, I wouldn’t necessarily flirt back, but I’d be like playing along. And that makes me very uncomfortable, especially way back going to like middle school even like sixth grade where I was interacting or playing with someone and I always kinda crushing on them in that moment? I can’t really remember because middle school was pretty long ago but, yeah, this just unsettles me in a way. I don’t think there were many interactions like this but possibilities still make me uncomfortable, even if they were like short interactions and goodness I might not even remember interacting with someone more than once or my other interaction so yeah that’s just a concern to me. Can anybody else relate to this cause? I’m not really sure how to cope with it. Or what I’m entirely worried about anyway. Especially on the short interactions. Ig I just decided to post this since its not one of my heavier problems but its like midteir and also hard to find relateable advice on it(?) but like what advice would I get, I already know better? Idk Im just confused with myself. It might just be I feel unsettled with it and therefore my brain wants to settle it even though theres no cure for feeling weird about it. I just feel icky… well is not rare for me but aghhhhh

Holland2004

Date posted: Yesterday

This is a lot!

Poohbear101!

Date posted: Yesterday

Definitely overthinking for sure. Cant be in your head too much…You are still young, enjoy the game without overthinking it

Juliette26

Date posted: Yesterday

I think we all feel a little icky when we think of our internet use no matter how not weird or weird it is. When it comes to roblox yes people lie, and they probably have, but you assumed they were your age naturally, and it seems you never crossed boundaries. Feeling blushy is normal as well attention that makes us see ourselves positive does that. As for in real life I can relate. My ROCD is quite terrible and sometimes tells me I do or at the very least should feel romantic feelings. It definitely happens and as long as you understand they are people and respect them there is little harm in fond thoughts. Just be careful not to cross boundaries.

Tea and Honey

Date posted: Yesterday

Don't try to do anything to fix the situation. Don't try to ruminate in order to understand or figure out the situation. If you do these things, you are just feeding OCD. You have to start thinking of your OCD like a little gremlin who sits on your shoulder and comes up with strategies to make you miserable. That's the OCD's main job, and he does it well. One of his strategies is to make you feel unsettled about the past, and to try to make you ruminate on ways to FIX IT. OCD is going to tell you that you might not remember something bad (and that you need to try hard to remember it ). It's going to make you feel unsettled. It's going to make you want to ruminate. It's going to make you want to FIX FIX FIX. How do we deal with this? We deal with it the same way that we handle all OCD. We use ERP therapy. What would this look like in your case? It's OK to acknowledge that you have icky feelings or that you're uncomfortable. But the truth is, it doesn't matter. You didn't do anything sexual. You really didn't do anything wrong. So the bottom line is that you IGNORE the fact that you don't feel great about it, and move on with your life. A lot of OCD recovery is just ignoring the yucky feelings and moving on with life. Eventually, the yucky feelings will go away on their own. But you don't need to rush this process. And you need to accept that if they don't go away for weeks or months, it doesn't matter. You are "riding out" the wave of anxiety like a surfer. You do this while you go on with life. You go to school, you do dishes, you do homework, you hang out with your friends. Anxiety about your Internet usage feel sticky and might bother you in the back of your mind. But your job is to do your ERP therapy and ignore it and go on your life.

MST_MLK

Date posted: Yesterday

@Tea and Honey Thanks this actual helped a lot especially with the memories part and possibly not remembering something!

soggy

Date posted: 16h

Trust me, most kids online are very obviously kids. You may be spiraling too much to be aware of it. Also, if they’re pretending to be older and you don’t realize that, then the burden isn’t on you.

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