Disillusionment

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Do you ever go through periods where you feel increasingly disillusioned, and the urge to withdraw from forums and social media etc is strong?

We all do I guess. And when we try to share our feelings and others attack, then we withdraw and go quiet. Is natural.

I go through regular cycles of posting on forums for about a month, then return to special interests at the exclusion of everything else for around three months.

Not sure if it's "disillusionment". It's more a case of me suddenly not being able to string a coherent sentence together, but the posting spurt usually ends with me thinking "Oh what is the point of this?".

Doesn't apply so much here, but it's hard work trying to cover all bases when posting an opinion online so as not to leave open a window of opportunity for somebody who wants to use one of my posts to make themselves look smart or morally superior whilst deflecting away attention from the point I was trying to make.

"disillusionment" might not be the most accurate word, but yes

And when I withdraw, the emphasis is on real life interactions, not internet per se

I tend to have this more with IRL communication and social norms more often than with social media.

On Facebook I've been in groups where it really was like participating with robots where I was outside the algorithm and forever out of sync with the group mind, to which point once I realized nothing would change (I think of self-selection effects where very few people tend to stick around if an environment is homogenous and it doesn't fit them - they leave, consequently it would be either just me and one other person or just me by myself).

For whatever reason I just haven't bothered with any other social media (Twitter, Instagram, etc.). I have a Minds account but nothing really happens there, I'm obviously on Youtube plenty but that self-curates in a way where you'll find what interests you rather than getting blasted with whatever's just popular.

Yes, often. When real life and people disappoint me i withdraw very easily. I even withdraw from forums sometimes and just focus on reading and watching stuff

Everyone probably has a different name for it, I'm not sure what mine is. I go through fits and starts where I will post, post, post. Then, I just don't. It has been linked to favorite people leaving the site, or the site just not feeling engaging enough to my brain or need, at that precise moment. During those times I may still check the site on occasion, but just don't see anything that I feel strongly about enough to post a comment. Sometimes what's going on in my life has me overwhelmed, I just can't summon the energy to post. All sorts of different reasons for dropping off the radar, temporarily.

The only social media I do is this site and a reddit subforum I joined to trade items in a game I play. With the reddit thing, my interest there is related to my interest in that game. If I'm really into it, I post more, if my interest is waning, I post less.

Here? Eh, I don't know that I post a lot even when I post a lot, if that makes sense. If I find I'm not posting here as much as is typical for me, it's because I'm either too busy for it, struggling with mental health issues and not able to string together coherent replies, or just not having extra time to spare because its being spent on other interests.

So, no. It has nothing to do with disillusion with me. Just where my head and priorities happen to be. But I might be a bad one to reply as I'm not much into things like facebook or whatever. Seems to me (based on what others say) that's where adults go to behave like petulant children, and I have no patience for that kind of nonsense. I'm too old for that crap. Lol. I prefer my social media things to be helpful or at least entertaining, so that's why I go where I do. I find the people here and on the reddit place I go to be mostly decent and I appreciate that... and when they aren't, I can shrug it off because the good ones outweigh the crappy ones.

i come from a position of minimalism. WP and FB get the majority of my posts and so far have not driven me away from theirselves.

I do, I might still be in one.

I deactivated my Facebook account for the 2nd and final time a few years ago, and haven't been on it since.

The social media I do use is primarily for networking and resource gathering, but not much else.

I'll even stop regularly posting on here from time to time, preferring to focus on my personal commitments when not in the middle of another anxiety attack or depressive episode.

I feel like an outlier amongst outliers, which makes my subsequent withdrawal and disconnection from others easier to process, despite sometimes wishing I could meet up with my well kept, close group of friends from over the years.

It's difficult to find that right balance at times.