Sobriety on Instagram: Connection, Comparison or Compulsion? - with Sarah DrageSobriety on Instagram: Connection, Comparison or Compulsion? - with Sarah Drage
Sober Awkward
The good, the weird and the slightly addictive world of sobriety on the internet.
36:45•3 May 2026
Sobriety on Instagram: Support, Triggers and Swapping One Habit for Another
Episode Overview
- Online sober communities can reduce shame and isolation, but can also turn recovery into a performance driven by likes and followers.
- Social media platforms are designed to be addictive, so people who quit alcohol may unintentionally swap drinking for doomscrolling or content creation.
- Unqualified online sober coaching can be dangerous, especially for people who are physically dependent on alcohol and need medical support to stop safely.
- You can "train" your algorithm by using app timers, snoozing platforms, unfollowing triggering accounts and marking content as "not interested".
- It’s important to check whether time spent posting about sobriety is taking away from actually living a sober life and being present with family and friends.
“"Sobriety is supposed to help us reconnect with life, not replace one coping mechanism with another."”
How do people cope with the challenges of staying sober when their phone keeps pinging with sober quotes, reels and hashtags? This chat between Vic and social media educator and NACOA ambassador Sarah Drage digs into what happens when sobriety meets Instagram – and why it can feel like both a lifeline and a rabbit hole.
You’ll hear Vic share how, living in a boozy corner of Queensland, she first turned to Instagram for support under the handle "drunk mummy, sober mummy" and found comfort in knowing, as she puts it, "there was support online 24/7 at the tip of my finger." But that comfort slowly tipped into pressure, validation chasing and, as she jokes, a "mental breakdown" that forced her to hand her accounts over to Sarah for a while.
Sarah brings the social media nerdiness and the raw honesty. She calls the online sober space "the digital version of the pub without the drink" and loves how people are "healing out loud" – yet she’s blunt about how quickly recovery content can become a performance. She talks about moving from user to content creator, chasing dopamine hits from likes, and realising she’d been "massively trauma dumping" about losing her dad to alcohol.
Together they unpack cult-like followings, unqualified sober coaches, and the real dangers for people who are physically dependent on alcohol being told they can just quit with an online programme. Sarah also lays out practical steps to look after your mental health online: timers on apps, training your algorithm, hitting "not interested", and noticing when you leave Instagram feeling flat rather than supported.
With plenty of humour – including a wildly off-track algorithm that leads Vic to "a woman [who] stuck giant gnomes up her bottom" – this conversation is ideal for anyone using social media as part of their sober journey and wondering: is this helping, or have I just swapped one obsession for another?
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