dragonsanddemons wrote:
Hello, I seem to be unpopular on WP as well. I wouldn't mind too much - I'm plenty used to being ignored - except that I keep trying to ask for help with my depression and self-harm in The Haven, and I've had to flat-out say something about how I could really use some help multiple times to get any replies, which only makes me feel worse. I probably seem to complain a lot, but that's because this is really the only place I can, and I know I also tend to perseverate on things. It feels like only maybe two people care at all that I'm really struggling.
As for in person, I have what I call social invisibility. That is, it seems people see me (enough not to run into me or anything, at least), but they don't mentally acknowledge my presence. If I'm lucky, I may get a passing greeting, but that's it - immediately afterward, it's as if I don't exist. If I try to join a conversation, often people will just wait until I'm done and then go back to talking as if I hadn't said anything (if I'm lucky - most of the rest of the time, they talk over me before I'm even finished, and my voice isn't loud enough to be heard over them). People will even have very personal, private conversations with their very close friends when I'm right next to them, as if they forget that I'm there (many people in high school and college were lucky that I'd never even consider gossiping, even if I had anyone to tell things to - which I didn't).
Did I reply in Haven? I do try to reply to topics there if I possibly can and have anything I can contribute, unlike the other forums where I may or may not reply to things, just for that reason - though it's foreign a concept to me, I understand that it damages other people if no one replies or seems to ignore them, and it benefits those people to get some sort of reply or acknowledgement. The ethical response seems clear.
Your social invisibility seems awesome! I think I would appreciate that. I kind of tend to stick out - people meet me once, then remember me months later even when they deal with hundreds of people during that time. I seem to have my privacy constantly encroached on, because everyone has this consuming desire to know what I'm doing and butt into my business. Being a bit more invisible would be welcome, so maybe I'd be left alone.
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Alexithymia - 147 points.
Low-Verbal.