Do you have an anxiety or panic disorder that impacts your use of the web?

[David_120218]

Hello! My name is David Swallow and I work for The Paciello Group, a US-based accessibility consultancy. We provide advice to companies and organisations about how to make their websites, software applications and mobile apps accessible to people with disabilities.

I am doing a bit of research into anxiety and panic disorders, which I feel are often overlooked with regards to web accessibility. Specifically, I am interested in features of websites that might contribute to feelings of anxiety or panic (and how we can avoid them). The so-called “dark patterns” that might just be mildly annoying for anyone but could present a real barrier to someone with anxiety. For example, someone told me that time limits on websites (such as “you have 5 minutes to complete your purchase”) can be really stressful. Same with persuasive warnings on travel websites (such as “Hurry! Only 2 tickets left!” or “5 people are viewing this room!”).

I realise this is a massive topic and I’m only just getting to grips with it myself. Also, it’s not a topic I want to mishandle, so it would be really good to speak to someone who has an anxiety or panic disorder, to get a first-hand account. Ultimately, I am hoping to produce a series of blog posts about the subject, to hopefully provide insight and practical guidance for anyone creating websites. Anything you share with me would, of course, be treated with the strictest confidence.

If you have anything you would like to share, please reply to this message or send a Private Message.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Scaremongering & bias are two to consider, sadly something our media are built on.

Bias & negative skewed thinking is already a problem with anxiety or depression so to be lead into panic through over the top & biased often speculative garbage parading as news is a common problem.

Health disclaimers can be an issue. A list may contain the common cold up to cancer but the latter will be zoomed in on by the HAer and a disclaimer about seeing a GP may add to it, even if carefully worded. NHS cancer campaigns such as the "blood in your poo" one are an example of over emphasing the worst case scenarios that the HAer zooms in on.

Ads that contribute to a perceived problem e.g. someone is bombarded by cancer ads when generally surfing or even looking on sites to validate their fear's concerns.

Tension builders as you have already mentioned.

[David_120218]

That’s very interesting, thanks for that. i hadn’t considered the presentation of health information. Are there any examples of where this is particularly bad, or, equally, do you know of any sites that have got this right? Like you say, scaremongering and bias is a big problem for the media in general, let alone when reporting health news and information.

The targeting of ads is also something I hadn’t considered. I guess it is something that is intended to benefit you (by showing you ads related to your interests) but if your “interests” are health-related, they just contribute to the anxiety.

Thanks again ,and if you think of anything else, please let me know.

[.Poppy.]

Oh yeah, the persuasive warnings can be bad! I get why they do it, but goodness.

Ads are big for me, because they can pop up even if I haven't been googling X symptom/disease, and even if I'm on a totally unrelated website. It's absolutely no fun to be looking at pictures of puppies, for example, and see an ad pop up about the flu. :(

This one is hard to control as it is media-based and free-speech and all that, but clickbait titles on news articles are big. Right now, the flu is a big fear and it seems journalists are really milking that for all it's worth - so many articles about this healthy person dying or the "top five symptoms that might indicate flu that you might not have heard of" or whatever. Often the actual article isn't scary, sometimes it's easy to see why there really isn't something to fear but after reading that headline it's hard to get into a better headspace.

[David_120218]

The targeted ads is an interesting one. I see it myself loads of times for benign stuff (I am hounded by ads for office chairs at the moment) but I imagine if it was health-related it would be a constant reminder even, like you say, when you're on a totally unrelated website.

Another issue that somebody mentioned was social media websites (mainly Facebook and Instagram) and the anxiety caused by the (seemingly) perfect lives that people present on there. I'd say that is more about how people use these sites than features of the sites themselves but it's obvious a source of anxiety for many people. Has anyone experienced anything like this?

[David_120218]

Hello! Just bumping this thread in case anyone else has any more suggestions?