Not reassurance seeking, just asking a question.

So I have a huge fear of online information being leaked. I have gone so far as to want to delete all social media accounts and no longer want to associate with places like discord incase messages are hacked and leaked from there. I know this may seem like the world's most stupid question... but IS this OCD? Am I being too paranoid? I honestly cant tell and it's why I'm looking for community help. I know ERP techniques can help here, like "maybe it will, maybe it won't", but I'm in a place where I cant tell the difference anymore.

Zeezeezee

Date posted: Yesterday

Yes. This seems like ocd

marie811

Date posted: Yesterday

i have ocd and i have the same exact fear, and have considered doing that same exact thing if that tells you anything

Generiname

Date posted: Yesterday

End of the day... it's OCD. I know it is. For both of us. But it doesn't make it any less easy, does it?

ezzieorsomet...

Date posted: Yesterday

It can definitely could be OCD. OCD intrusive fears can be set worse case scenarios. even you sort of going down that rabbit hole of "oh god is this TOO paranoid to be ocd" can even be OCD trying to convince you there's something even more serious wrong with you. I actually have a similar fear as yours. to the point where i sometimes consider doing something similar. i don't like posting online or I don't have any social media at all. so talking on here is part of my exposure. now i will say you don't have to go all or nothing. as someone with a cybersecurity experience. I can tell you, using VPNs, or keeping your social media accounts private, being careful about what information you share online (such as don't tell or announce if you are going out of town, or give out identifying information) or using pseudonyms online can help mitigate some of the risk. and yeah, we can't really control data breaches from the services we use, which ERP then comes into place.

Generiname

Date posted: 20h

How do you personally practise ERP with this type of thing? It'd be incredibly useful to know!

ezzieorsomet...

Date posted: 14h

@Generiname Basically the phrase of "maybe it will be leaked maybe it won't". as boring and unhelpful as it sounds. Not trying to make anyone nervous here, but social media service accounts can definitely be attack vectors, but again, I would suggest looking into ways to keep your data secure best you can without going too far into tech paranoia. (Like I use Nordvpn and it monitors my email and lets me know if any leaks) after all, even with no social media accounts public databases (such as health databases and social security) or other infrastructure still house our information and can be breached also (and are frankly likely to be more targeted than discord x, or any such place as it contains a lot more information.) it's exhausting, but you can reduce how much you engage and share. just following general online safety tips help but unfortunately the way the world is, it's almost impossible to be invisible or not have some data out there online X_X;;; so i just try to tell myself i know the risk and do what i can. (I can't say that I still don't get worried from time to time)

Generiname

Date posted: 13h

@ezzieorsomething I think that's my problem. I don't want to be completely invisible as I have friends online who I love speaking to. But my discord account and twitter etc have very old messages from 2015+ onwards that I'm really uncomfortable about and even though I've deleted them, my friends replies still remain. And there's stuff they sent me that make ME very uncomfortable and even did at the time and I can't delete them. My OCD latches onto the fact that despite my growth over the many many years, the old messages paint a picture of who I was when in reality a lot of it was just me trying to act cool or not show discomfort as I was afraid of confrontation and didn't want to upset anyone. Sorry, despite your post being helpful it's still quite triggering (as an exposure), so I'm sorry if I've been venting a lot. I do use VPNs now and I've restricted my social media usage by at least 80%. I'm just scared and I don't want to be. I want to be free to talk to my friends and live a life instead of being ashamed each and every day about my past self and how stupid I was. I envy people who don't worry about stuff like this so much, I just want to delete everything and disappear but I'd miss my friends too much. :(

anonymous_pu...

Date posted: 16h

I thought I was the only one with this exact thought. It's so exhausting and energy consuming.

Generiname

Date posted: 15h

Isn't it? I know it's just OCD but at the same time like you said, it's both of those things and more! We have to take solace in the fact that it's OCD and tens upon millions of people don't actually share this worry. We're just more paranoid because of our stinking disorder.

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