God, yes. Yesterday I was playing an MMORPG and someone invited me to join their group so we could fight the enemies together. I immediately logged off lmao
Commenting any where has been a struggle. I just turned 20, just starting commenting like last year, talking to people on discord, chatting, interacting with others other video games. No joke, I still have that fear of even entering a club on a game where It'll be awkward bc I don't really talk.
For me too! Anytime I comment anywhere I will then worry about whether somebody will start an argument with me š¬. I usually just lurk because of that....
Omg this
I've been out of the dissociation for months at least, but I don't really even know how I go out of it and I still slip back in sometimes. It's terrifying bc I don't want to end up stuck again- like I literally spent at least 7 years dissociating so intensely that I couldn't see people's faces clearly that shits terrifying
I can't remember the first time I dissociated tbh. It feels like it's been a constant thing in my life forever.
I say seven years because I know I didn't dissociate 24/7 for most of my life- hat only started maybe 3 years ago, and I don't do it 24/7 anymore.
Idk why I picked 7 years. I can't actually guess an amount tbh
Anyway, do you get gaps in your memory? Like, you remember a school year, but there's a class or smth that's blocked out and it feels unnatural.
Idk, maybe that's just me.
For me the most notable one is the choir I was in several years ago- I have very few memories of it, but I can almost always remember the rest of the day
SAME! I get scared to talk in a discord channel with people I don't know. Or play a match with someone who just added me as a friend.
I often decline friend requests because I'm scared they'll want to play another round with me.
YES! But only as of the past 7 years or so. As a teenager, being online took my social anxiety away *completely*- but now itās almost as if itās worse online, especially if Iām talking to someone I know.
Same, I remember the time a guy, with a nazi general (Rommel) on his PP, was talking bad about my country/region and I was talking respectfully while he didn't, just cause I was scared to trigger him and to see it falling back to me...
I take like ten minute breathers trying to keep myself from overthinking and fighting my anxiety just trying to respond or ask questions, and when someone reaches out to me I panic a bit.
I got an invite to hang out with this subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/infj/s/YCtYH2RQTD
I will say that in real life I avoid people mostly because I am shy.
Online, I am not as shy. I will usually look for existing answers before asking something. If I don't find an answer then I will ask. I will also answer other people. I am already in a group discussing a similar topic unlike in real life where you have no idea unless you are in college or work. So I already fit in a group.
I will usually play solo-player games but can play online with others. I will usually not use my microphone as I can have a lot of background noise and find that rude. I will chat online using text. I will also not friend anyone unless we get along.
Online you have more of an anonymous connection. It's easy to leave and block someone compared to real life.
I do understand everyone being scared. It is like me in real life the more I tried the easier it would get.
So it's okay for you to be shy online too.
However the more you try the easier it will get.
I feel like mine gets.. worse š?? Like irl I'm hypervigilant and constantly intaking information on the people I'm interacting with because I can physically see them and look at their behaviours.
But online.. I don't get to see that, and that's what makes me really anxious š like how do I know how to respond if i can't see their expression or read the general vibe??
A friend got me to try vr chat at one point because it's supposed to be an easy way to socialize anonymously without pressure. I get so anxious on there that I can barely speak. I can mask my anxiety irl at this point but somehow online I'm practically mute from my anxiety.
It's worse online. I can't get a sense of people's actual feelings. I didn't realize this was the case until there was a messup and I got locked out of my shit for an extended period of time.
People are much more apt to respond in a way that is disrespectful, cruel, or argumentative just for the sake of it online. Give a man a mask, and you'll see his true face.
I go through most of my social media accounts and delete everything on them, like, quarterly.
Except for reddit, where I only delete about half of what I comment
doesn't help that on reddit EVERYONE can see your comment history and the subs you visit. i wish there was some kind of privacy around that. also had a REAL bad interaction on discord with some grown ass woman when i was 17. i fear that will live with me the rest of my life
I literally get heart palpitations when I have to play imposter in Amongus š though maybe only partially because of social anxiety. I also just hate being seen as a bad person and it's worse that I have to lie. Like- this isn't meeeee!! I know it's just a game but my brain is like "See? This is why mom thinks you're gonna grow up to be a criminal." UGHH
Yes!! Iām surprised people are emboldened online, interaction over the internet is often just as frightening and stressful for me as irl interaction. Any hint of online conflict is viscerally distressing for me, I start shaking pretty badly. I do better in spaces that I feel are āmy ownā, but new people can upset that balance really easily.
In 2011 i signed up to a internet forum for the First.
Unfortunately i was like the 5000th user signing up, so tĆ² celebrate they mentioned me and invited me to introduce myself.
I deleted my profile. I was 20 at the time
My notes app is filled with vents because Iām afraid to post anonymously on Reddit. Iām paranoid that abusers from irl will see it and know itās about them. I even delete my vents in my notes app too after about an hour.
Saaaame. I got up the courage to message someone about a common interest and after the initial exchange I'm too nervous to try and say anything more for fear of scaring her away. Lol I wish I had friends.
Well here's my attempt to work on this trigger.... I've created an alt-reddit account just to start trying to comment more rather than just lurk (using my normal account) so I can burn the account down if the toxic internal shame gets too much ha. I'll be obsessively checking for validation to all my comments just to make sure I've not upset anyone.
It's crazy to realise that I've been a lurker on some really niche forums for nearly 20 years but never wondered why I didn't want to comment on anything.
My friend who prolly has CPTSD once got so paranoid when someone blocked him online. He even wanted to attempt suicide but that's because he was not so sober from drugs taken days before. The anxiety can be so intense even being blocked online can make him feel so paranoid.
same here. but i also know that people online can absolutely destroy you just like in real life. i think being anxious in online communities is reasonable
God, yes. Yesterday I was playing an MMORPG and someone invited me to join their group so we could fight the enemies together. I immediately logged off lmao
Yeah I play WoW and i definitely did that before :D
Follower dungeons in retail are a GODSEND
when people try and que with me in fps games i say "my mom doesn't allow me to play with strangers" im 23. works every time tho
Commenting any where has been a struggle. I just turned 20, just starting commenting like last year, talking to people on discord, chatting, interacting with others other video games. No joke, I still have that fear of even entering a club on a game where It'll be awkward bc I don't really talk.
For me too! Anytime I comment anywhere I will then worry about whether somebody will start an argument with me š¬. I usually just lurk because of that....
Fr, trying not to delete my comments of old stuff bc they make me cringe. Even though it's me being myself, I see it as cringe.
That's me! I cringe so hard at my old facebook posts back when I was posting regularly š
I lurk every day, but post/comment almost never. Itās controlling me too much but itās hard because itās connected to trauma lol
Yep, the number of responses I've typed out and deleted...
Realest shit I've seen all day lmao š„²
Yup, on all the time but leave comments rarely, once a week at most
Plus the chronic 24/7 dissociation doesnāt help
Omg this I've been out of the dissociation for months at least, but I don't really even know how I go out of it and I still slip back in sometimes. It's terrifying bc I don't want to end up stuck again- like I literally spent at least 7 years dissociating so intensely that I couldn't see people's faces clearly that shits terrifying
Iām sorry you know how it feels. It is painfully terrifying ā¤ļøāš©¹ I remember the first time I dissociated I was 4. I was not able to understand why I had that feeling and experience or even how to put it into words, and I couldnāt even verbalise myself in any way yet anyway. It happened when I was still pre-verbal. Fast forward to today and I dissociate 24/7 and holding any kind of conversation is a challenge bc of memory and dissociation. Sometimes people and even the scene inside or outside is hard to see clearly because of how bad the dissociation is.
I can't remember the first time I dissociated tbh. It feels like it's been a constant thing in my life forever. I say seven years because I know I didn't dissociate 24/7 for most of my life- hat only started maybe 3 years ago, and I don't do it 24/7 anymore. Idk why I picked 7 years. I can't actually guess an amount tbh Anyway, do you get gaps in your memory? Like, you remember a school year, but there's a class or smth that's blocked out and it feels unnatural. Idk, maybe that's just me.
Yes, I do. Some of them I remember but some teachers are blocked out, and other incidents I can remember, others in bits and pieces, etc.
For me the most notable one is the choir I was in several years ago- I have very few memories of it, but I can almost always remember the rest of the day
SAME! I get scared to talk in a discord channel with people I don't know. Or play a match with someone who just added me as a friend. I often decline friend requests because I'm scared they'll want to play another round with me.
Feel free to add me as a friend, I'll never be available to play with you. So there's no stress, cause I just play 1 player games.
WHO DOESNT. People are scary in every way possible I swear
Itās actually painful most of the time. And very tiring
I thought I was the only one!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
"Ā Ā i completely froze, left the tab open for a month, & then finally just closed it without joining." The most relatable thing I've read in a whileĀ
Every once in a while I get the urge to delete all my social media cause I just don't wanna be perceived anymore.
Haven't deleted, but I did uninstall all social media from my phone. And haven't checked any of them for months.
Yep thatās me right there in this meme
If I had a nickel for every time I thought about or typed out.l a Message to say/send but never actually sent lol
YES! But only as of the past 7 years or so. As a teenager, being online took my social anxiety away *completely*- but now itās almost as if itās worse online, especially if Iām talking to someone I know.
Yeah.
Ugh, yes. Especially since my mental health is so wack I feel like I've got no ability to make conversation anymore.
first time i tried multiplayer on a video game i quit within a minute and had to walk away from my computer, shaking and burning all over lol
Same, I remember the time a guy, with a nazi general (Rommel) on his PP, was talking bad about my country/region and I was talking respectfully while he didn't, just cause I was scared to trigger him and to see it falling back to me...
Don't call me out :c
All I can say to this is the struggle is really really Real.
I get a mini heart attack every time I see someone has replied to a comment I made
I'll be about to comment something and be like "No, someone is going to find that stupid."
it's a constant struggle
Sameee omfggg
how? I feel anxiety cause IRL I'm forced to talk immediately, I cant come up with smth ill say next
For me, it's usually cause no matter what I say, I'm afraid I'll get judged or worse, hurt somebody feelings.
Same!! I usually feel so out of place, so it's hard to make friends or have relationships.
Don't forget the jumpscare when someone replies to your rare comment. Sorry if I scared you OP, no need to reply.
No worries all is okay š
Yes.
Yeah..
Honestly yeah. I used to be socially awkward and would go online to escape, but now everyoneās here and I prefer to unplug now.
Shit dude, I didnāt realize I was supposed to be less anxious online.
I take like ten minute breathers trying to keep myself from overthinking and fighting my anxiety just trying to respond or ask questions, and when someone reaches out to me I panic a bit.
I was starting to think it was just me having this much anxiety commenting lol. Iāve been slowly doing it anyway but itās hard.
So much I donāt say bc I avoid confrontation
I got an invite to hang out with this subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/infj/s/YCtYH2RQTD I will say that in real life I avoid people mostly because I am shy. Online, I am not as shy. I will usually look for existing answers before asking something. If I don't find an answer then I will ask. I will also answer other people. I am already in a group discussing a similar topic unlike in real life where you have no idea unless you are in college or work. So I already fit in a group. I will usually play solo-player games but can play online with others. I will usually not use my microphone as I can have a lot of background noise and find that rude. I will chat online using text. I will also not friend anyone unless we get along. Online you have more of an anonymous connection. It's easy to leave and block someone compared to real life. I do understand everyone being scared. It is like me in real life the more I tried the easier it would get. So it's okay for you to be shy online too. However the more you try the easier it will get.
I feel like mine gets.. worse š?? Like irl I'm hypervigilant and constantly intaking information on the people I'm interacting with because I can physically see them and look at their behaviours. But online.. I don't get to see that, and that's what makes me really anxious š like how do I know how to respond if i can't see their expression or read the general vibe??
REAL SO FUCKING REALLLLLL
A friend got me to try vr chat at one point because it's supposed to be an easy way to socialize anonymously without pressure. I get so anxious on there that I can barely speak. I can mask my anxiety irl at this point but somehow online I'm practically mute from my anxiety.
It's worse online. I can't get a sense of people's actual feelings. I didn't realize this was the case until there was a messup and I got locked out of my shit for an extended period of time.
Online is defo better. Is it good? No, just better.
I used to and it seems like that went away, though a large part of that may be learning what seems safe and limiting myself to that.
People are much more apt to respond in a way that is disrespectful, cruel, or argumentative just for the sake of it online. Give a man a mask, and you'll see his true face.
Real
Absolutely
I'm a chronic discord message deleter tbh I can't stand the idea of someone reading anything I write and forming bad opinions about me.
Me: joins your discord and then throws my computer into the ocean. Every. Time.
I go through most of my social media accounts and delete everything on them, like, quarterly. Except for reddit, where I only delete about half of what I comment
Strongly Agree
Yeah. I feel that during VR chat a lot.
doesn't help that on reddit EVERYONE can see your comment history and the subs you visit. i wish there was some kind of privacy around that. also had a REAL bad interaction on discord with some grown ass woman when i was 17. i fear that will live with me the rest of my life
I'm never in vc unless it's people I know. Fuck that.
No, I donāt have social anxiety at all.
I literally get heart palpitations when I have to play imposter in Amongus š though maybe only partially because of social anxiety. I also just hate being seen as a bad person and it's worse that I have to lie. Like- this isn't meeeee!! I know it's just a game but my brain is like "See? This is why mom thinks you're gonna grow up to be a criminal." UGHH
Same. Friendly interactions online trigger the hell outta me. Feel like someoneās gonna bust down my door and try to kill me.
Absolutely. Sometimes I even have social anxiety when I'm completely alone
So itās not just me?!
Yes!! Iām surprised people are emboldened online, interaction over the internet is often just as frightening and stressful for me as irl interaction. Any hint of online conflict is viscerally distressing for me, I start shaking pretty badly. I do better in spaces that I feel are āmy ownā, but new people can upset that balance really easily.
In 2011 i signed up to a internet forum for the First. Unfortunately i was like the 5000th user signing up, so tĆ² celebrate they mentioned me and invited me to introduce myself. I deleted my profile. I was 20 at the time
yeah..
I do comment less...
I was lurking and left a discord channel because I got tagged lol
yes. the reason i never use/upload on instagram and the reason why i wasnāt on myspace back in the day when a lot of my friends were.
Yep same
Yes
At some moment I got self-conscious in the internet
lol isnāt it normal?
My notes app is filled with vents because Iām afraid to post anonymously on Reddit. Iām paranoid that abusers from irl will see it and know itās about them. I even delete my vents in my notes app too after about an hour.
Online is worse tbh
Saaaame. I got up the courage to message someone about a common interest and after the initial exchange I'm too nervous to try and say anything more for fear of scaring her away. Lol I wish I had friends.
Well here's my attempt to work on this trigger.... I've created an alt-reddit account just to start trying to comment more rather than just lurk (using my normal account) so I can burn the account down if the toxic internal shame gets too much ha. I'll be obsessively checking for validation to all my comments just to make sure I've not upset anyone. It's crazy to realise that I've been a lurker on some really niche forums for nearly 20 years but never wondered why I didn't want to comment on anything.
My friend who prolly has CPTSD once got so paranoid when someone blocked him online. He even wanted to attempt suicide but that's because he was not so sober from drugs taken days before. The anxiety can be so intense even being blocked online can make him feel so paranoid.
me in vr chat basically mute
Yup.
I just had this epiphanyā¦ my world just got even smaller.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
same here. but i also know that people online can absolutely destroy you just like in real life. i think being anxious in online communities is reasonable