recluse said:
i can't handle talking to more than one person as it is too confusing for me.
I completely agree with that, in the rare instances when I've had to try to chat with two people at once it has been a stressful mess and I have to get rid of one of them. However, I'm always online and have enjoyed chatting with my friends on IM for 8 years now. There's one I talk to almost every day, and a few others who are occasional. Since they're spread across aim/icq/msn/yahoo it's pretty easy to choose who I want to talk to. Also I believe yahoo lets you select to be online only to a particular contact if you want, though I haven't tried that.
Don't give up IM just because you can't take multiple people. You can just tell a person "I'm in the middle of another conversation and I go crazy when I try to juggle." And you can just remove people you're not really interested in, and only allow messages from contacts. It's that easy. 'Course it helps if you're undesirable enough that few people want to talk to you, so that the situation doesn't come up much.
recluse said:
I think it's become worse since i met an online friend for real. Since then talking online even to her seems so pointless compared to actual interaction.
Interesting. I've met an online friend a few times over the years, but frankly talking to her online feels more real. Long pauses and lack of things to say are considered acceptable online, but in person they're a problem. In person you can't just walk away and do something else for a while without being rude.
Spfreezes said:
They must be thinking that I blocked or deleted them. That makes me feel guilty.
No, they just think you're (a) too busy with a life / not into computers enough to come online or (b) socially phobic. That's what I always think with vanished friends. Or with non-friend contacts who vanish, I just think "oh well, we didn't manage interesting conversation so that didn't work out."
