How to Understand and Control the Online Over Checking Habit  

I know I’m addicted to what I call “Over Checking.” I also know that the more I feed this addiction, the more emotionally exhausted I become. Yet, even with this awareness, I check (and recheck) emails, texts, news, and social media notifications too many times a day (and night) to count. I even catch myself in a loop, where I not only check all the above, but then, within minutes, check it all again. I’ll even recheck my Weather app, as if that “partly cloudy” prediction for central California is suddenly going to morph into a typhoon within the next five minutes. Being a writer, as well, I find myself clicking onto Amazon to check my book’s ranking on a daily basis (if not more). Friends have told me to stop. I’ve told myself to stop. But then I see a book sale! No matter how many times there isn’t one, I keep on checking, as if the mere act of looking it up will somehow cause a sale. Irrational? Yes, definitely. And, yet… I keep clicking away, a hungry mouse waiting for that intermittent reward.  I know many other people suffer from this over-checking dilemma as well. Whether it be a friend continuously checking to see if his love interest has texted him back yet, a neighbor who scans her Facebook feed even while she’s jogging, or that random stranger at a party who keeps his gaze transfixed on his screen.  Sadly, my over-checking habit is not at all unusual in this digital age. But I wondered why this particular behavior has become so widespread (a...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Anxiety and Panic Habits Technology checking Compulsive Behavior Smartphone social media Source Type: blogs