How do you know when an internet acquaintance actually thinks of you as a friend?
I wasted a good 4 years of my life on people I thought were my friends. It turns out I was only there when it was convenient for them. Once I got a job, everyone stopped talking to me. I would try to contact them through social media or mail and they would ignore me. I understand that it's important to realize friendships come and go but I had no warning. I thought these people liked me. And the worst part is no one ever contacted me to see what was up after I gave up on reaching out. Its like, wow, I would have loved to know you guys thought of me this way before I became emotionally invested.
To put this into context, I have social anxiety and depression. It keeps me from having real life friendships but internet interaction comes more naturally to me. It makes me happy. Should I just shrug this off and go back to finding new internet acquaintances and just NOT think of them as friends? I've been buttmad about this for years.
How would you suggest going about maintaining a healthy distance? My problem is that I got too emotionally involved. I'm the kind of person who treats friends like royalty because I love them so much.
Adrian Howard
You need to learn to be more comfortable making friends in real life, as you simply cannot create the same level of friendship online as you can face to face.
Avoiding the issue isn't going to make things easier in the long run, and now you've been burned by online friends you're probably less likely to develop genuine friendships anyway.
Join a club, meet people in the flesh and build up friendships over time. These will be a lot healthier and more fruitful than dwindling your life away online talking to people who may or may not be who they say they are.
Cooper James
And for the record, medication made me worse. Turns out my dad's side of the senpai is the kind of genetic abomination that suffers the worst of side effects of meds. Would have stopped sooner had my doc actually cared I was getting worse. Brain zaps and my newfound insomnia are joys to deal with. But I don't expect user to believe me.
Camden Gutierrez
>Should I just shrug this off and go back to finding new internet acquaintances and just NOT think of them as friends?
don't even bother, you're better off as anónimo. i kinda went through the same, it's bullshit
Daniel Russell
Your mental illnesses and you digital friends. Not real. All of it. Fuck you.
William Long
>join a club I'm 28 and not in college. I honestly have no idea what people my age do other than work and care for their children/pets.
Ryder Miller
user* dat spanish autocorrect
Juan Rogers
>grow up fuck you user. anxiety disorders are very much real.
Seek therapy or counseling, consult your doctor and see if medication is right for you. I'm not going to sit here and tell you I love taking anti-depressants - I fucking hate it - but it does numb the immense abyssal emptiness and allows enough dopamine in your brain to be able to actually enjoy things
Either way, counseling will help you much better than this board ever will