Do you find that conversing with people on WP...

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...makes you feel even more lonely in real life, even as you type away at the screen? As though you're trying to find a substitute for genuine social interaction online and it leaves you feeling unfulfilled and rather sad? As though these are just useless, pointless words on a computer screen?

I feel like this often. I mean, I'm approaching my mid-twenties and I have no social life to speak of. The social life I could have would be both expensive and unhealthy (for more reasons than one that I won't go into here) and it all just feels rather pointless. I put my photos on Flickr in some hope of recognition, the need to feel wanted I suppose, yet this is never really fulfilled.

This is my first pint by the way.

(sighs)

Your violin is too big, Irishman.

That's kind of a sh***y way to respond to someone who's obviously upset. I'd expect a response that caliber on 4chan or Something Awful. Such a master of comedy.


And yes OP I share your feelings, I think a big part of why I post here is because I just writing stuff, my feelings and what not. I don't expect people to respond much but I feel safe her because most people are pretty sensitive and less likely to say "oh you're like this? THATS SO LULZY HAHA NERD!!"


I'm happy to see you handled it so well. I overreact to things but I hate it when people mock or belittle me when I open up or share my feelings.

Last edited by NeueZiel on 07 May 2012, 4:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Before I felt that online communication was the only way to not be alone but I know in all honesty my friends are there for me like I would be for them.
The only real difference is that I don't really talk to people in similar circumstances such as you and I like I am able to do here.
I can be a friend in these tough times. It's almost hard to make me feel unhappy when someone else is and I generally make people happy so yeah... =]

ZX_SpectrumDisorder, that's totally out of order in this forum.
If you have nothing helpful or supportive to say to Tequila then bugger off, Ok?

It feels lonely to me to me sometimes too, but usually only when nobody is leaving any words for me to read.

The difference is that I can only take so much face-to-face interaction before I'm totally exhausted. That said, I can see your point. RL interaction is on the whole more stimulating than online interactions.

No one on wrong planet talks to me much, but I'm not fussed, I always have friends on Facebook.

I find that I'm completely different online actually. I know that you can be to a point, anonymous online and that being anonymous and using pseudonyms I can be completely honest and direct about how I feel in situations and relationships. Something that is quite impossible offline.

So having this community online - although they sometimes ignore me - is better than what I have offline. It isn't perfect. But I would swap a group of NT's who include me in social events for the right reasons over this community any day.

Huh. I was on Facebook too, then realised that I just couldn't be bothered with it.

I feel kinda empty when I spend time on WP. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy reading posts and contributing, but I tend to feel I'm on the outside looking in a lot of the time, wishing I could be more popular...

For what it's worth, Tequila, I enjoy reading your posts in the Random Discussion forum and I like the way you include photos - they often make me smile and they always manage to get the conversation going too.

And I really admire and envy the photos you post to the Perpetual Photography Thread - in my humble opinion you have a real eye for a good photo and your comments are very informative.

A lot of us are on the outside here. Even those of us that might be "in" don't really feel it so much. We are eternal outsiders trying to console each other.



A bit like a bald man fighting over a comb?



Oh, thank you so much darling! Much appreciated. And you too.

I hope you have a lovely, peaceful sleep tonight thinking of your island.



More coming up there soon.

I think you hit the nail on the head there Tequila.

When it comes down to it, I could put money that even the people here considered "popular" probably still feel like that in real life. They may act, and from the outside it might look like they fit in but I would put money on it that they still feel like they are outside looking in on something. Here at least we kind of belong to some extent, even if it's not in the traditional way.

At the end of the day, there is a real person behind every username here. We may communicate in this medium, but does that really change the connections we form? The connections may be in a different way to the traditional methods, but I expect they are still there in some form.

Thanks. I'm glad I didn't hit my finger instead.



Perhaps.



I think it's more to do with the fact that, as it's virtual it has both its positives and negatives. We have the relative safety, security and anonymity of being physically detached from one another but, by that same token, it also means that (in most cases) we don't have people to physically console us when we're down, or friends to go out for a drink with or see a film with, or - dare I say it? - people to share intimacy, love and tenderness (not necessarily sex!) with. So, while it can provide a companionship, it ultimately leaves me feeling somewhat empty. It's as though that you are all there but at the same time aren't there.

As I have probably mentioned before, I'm more than up to meeting people here and do this already from time to time.

Last edited by Tequila on 07 May 2012, 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Can't be 4chan, else it would involve things unimaginably gruesome or insane. What I do agree with, though, is that it's not the best way to respond to something like that.

As for the original post, I agree with the general sentiment. Often, I feel a bit bad when posting here. Must have something to do with the times I'm posting, though. Usually, it's early in the morning, in the late afternoon or evening, or the middle of the night. Times when my general mood is bad to begin with, and I spend too much time reflecting on what's going wrong in my life. What helps for me, though, is merciless and continuous distraction in any way I can, allowing myself only a few minutes a day to check up on some threads I've been following and allowing myself about fifteen minutes for every few hours to argue.

You shouldn't. You seem a nice enough chap - if I come to the Netherlands I promise I will look you up, although you might get railroaded into being a tour guide (if you accept) - and you're not daft in the political scheme of things. I rather like you actually, and look out for your posts in the Politics section often. It's good for a linksrijder like me to find out what's going on from someone who actually lives in the Netherlands.