Anyone else becoming more withdrawn with age?

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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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03 Feb 2011, 4:24 pm

Katatonic wrote:
I see a lot of people are talking about how electronic friendships and communication can ruin a persons ability to socialize. Personally, as my social skill decline so does my internet friend making skills. A lot of times on this forum I'll start to write something and once I'm finished I end up erasing it and thinking "whats the point?". I use to make a lot of friends on MySpace but then I sort of stopped caring and decided that all friendships begin and end the same so whats the point in continuing the cycle? I don't know. Maybe its time to pop a pill and smile like the rest of the world, eh?

I am happy with the current state of friendlessness. The point of life is to find some kind of satisfaction. There is no rule insisting you must find happiness through other people or you will never ever be happy.
Look at the mystics of the past, sorta living in their own world, many were solitary hermits. No one was saying they were damaged in some way because of this lifestyle. Many had wisdom to offer gleaned during such solitary retreats.



DGuru
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03 Feb 2011, 4:37 pm

Yensid wrote:
It's not unusual. As you get older, the people that you know get more involved with their families, more set in their ways, less interested in socializing and in making new friends.


That actually scares me.

I'm the opposite. I'm in college and becoming less withdrawn with age. There are many social things I wanted to do as a kid. I feel deprived of my childhood. I fear in the future wanting to do things and not finding anyone to do them with. And a lot of this is so much easier once you got money and I'm looking for a job right now(in college). There's many things I've always wanted to do and I don't want to miss out. I've done some of them now, but I fear not having enough connections later or my connections turning dull and boring or more likely moving away. And then with people more set in their ways how in the world will I make more friends if I have to? The pool of potentials would be too small. I suppose I could still try looking for interest groups as I have done before, but what if I can't find any? Smaller pool of potentials. I fear a future of loneliness. I was already lonely and deeply depressed most of my life. The scariest thing is the thought that I could wind up there again.

EDIT: Another problem is pickiness. What if after college I look and look but all I can find are jerks. College almost seems like an island of perfection.



MidlifeAspie
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03 Feb 2011, 4:57 pm

DGuru wrote:
I'm the opposite. I'm in college and becoming less withdrawn with age.


I think people may have differing opinions on what counts as "aging" or "becoming aged". I generally think of college students as kids :)



Zen
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03 Feb 2011, 5:27 pm

Same. :lol: I was way more social in college.
Mind you, I didn't talk more. I just hung around with other people more and went more places.
Part of it for me is that I get migraines when I do things like go to the movies or to concerts. It's a shame because I enjoy those things otherwise, but why put myself through that? As far as hanging out with people, it has always felt like a chore to me. It's just that now I have decided that I don't have to put myself through things I'm not really interested in, and it takes less effort to work at home than at the coffee shop. Fewer distractions as well.

I actually feel less anxiety now, in interactions with cashiers and such, which I think is related to the above. I quit caring what they thought of me and quit trying to project a false image of myself. Also, online communication has done nothing but improve my social skills.



Yensid
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03 Feb 2011, 5:27 pm

MidlifeAspie wrote:
DGuru wrote:
I'm the opposite. I'm in college and becoming less withdrawn with age.


I think people may have differing opinions on what counts as "aging" or "becoming aged"


Indeed.

Really, if someone is in college, they are a long way off from the problems that I was describing. DGuru, you have many years left to develop your social circle. Just don't waste them.


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