Keeping Friends?

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So I see a lot of topics about making friends, and while I'm not great at that, my more immediate question is about keeping them. The friends I have, almost entirely, have become my friend through their own efforts. I suck at making friends, most of the time I don't even care to.

Lately I've gone into a pretty major funk. I don't want contact with anyone outside of the computer. And, really, not too much inside either if they need much from me. I still frequent message boards that I'm on, but I don't post as much as I used to. Partly out of not wanting to, partly out of guilt that I'm not keeping up with the in person friendships as easily.

Does anyone else have problems with this? I seem to go through cycles of being able to handle friendships and then I go into "hermit mode" and don't want to deal with them. I've lost friendships in the past over this behavior and I know I'm about to again (if I haven't already).

Part of me really doesn't care. I don't want the work it takes most of the time, but then I feel like I want people to like me (I just don't want to have to interact when I don't feel like it). Plus I feel guilty for hurting their feelings. Two different friends have gone out of their way to tell me they miss me and that my silence is hurting them. I don't know what to do. I'm afraid to contact them because they'll want to talk and I'm not ready to. But I worry that when I'm out of this cycle again, I'll be mad that I didn't make the effort.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

I guess, that makes sense to a lot of people here. At least questions about making friends are quite regular.

For me it helped to some extend to be quite open to friends and warn new ones before, that they may encounter weeks or months without contact or very limited contact and even my phone being turned off for those times. Some people are able to accept this.
On the other site you can try to overcome such phases. Meeting people may even help you out of them.
Another option may be to have contact, but in a situation where you don't have to talk too much. Like an evening dedicated to some activity like playing computer- or board games against each other or as a team against other teams on the web. In general I prefer to "do" something or talk about some common interests, since it makes talking more easy.

Wow, you and I are exactly alike in this way.
I've pretty much lost complete motivation to even try to get normal "friends" cause it never lasts long enough for them to be considered my friend anyway. Now all I really want is a romantic-type relationship cause it seems like the only one worth having anymore. It's something I wanted badly ever since the 5th grade and never got it right either, so actually I'm not really sure why I still want one, but I do.

Yeah, I can't make friends at all, closest thing I come to doing that is not rebuffing someone trying to be friends with me.

I do have a partner, (which it looks like I failed to mention) and that seems to be all that I can handle. Anyone else is too many.

I guess, really, I just want it to be ok that I'm this way. And I want to stop feeling guilty that I am. And find a way to let my friends know without them trying to fix me. Though I guess I can't control how they will react or fee.