Do you socialize as poorly online as you do in real life?

[Forgotten-Children]

Not at all. I can talk like there's no tomarrow online. Actually, had you not known I had a speaking problem in real life and saw some of my posts on other sites, you would have no idea.

My fear comes from paranoia from people being around me. I subconoiusly have this thought that they're either going to hurt me or make fun of me. That's why I don't really have any friends in real life. I just have my buds on the internet and my boyfriend who lives a few states away.

I mean, if I know the person a lot more then I'm a bit less tense, so when I move in with my boyfriend, I shouldn't be afraid of him.

 

[MaliceInWickedland]

Well, when I'm speaking to someone face-to-face, I feel intimidated and insecure. Intimidated because the eyes "are the window to the soul" and when I'm looking into someone's eyes I feel as if they can see right through me and the thought of that makes me uncomfortable. On top of it, people tend to make assumptions just by observing your body language, tone, ability to maintain eye contact, stuff like that, and that makes me feel insecure about my overall image to people.

I feel a lot more comfortable opening up over the internet because no one is directly looking at me or speaking to me so I don't have to worry about stuttering, blushing, twitching, or any other anxiety-related reactions. If I make a mistake in my words, I can just simply press the backspace button and fix whatever I have to.

It's even more comfortable opening up on this site knowing that no one will really judge my thoughts or feelings since we all have social phobia to some extent and we can all pretty much understand where we're all coming from.

 

[tweetebird]

When it's an open forum like this, generally I have much less anxiety than in real life. If someone wants a one on one private chat or email dialog, than it's basically the same as real life.

 

[Jessica7]

Yeah, I find it super hard. It took me ages to write my first post here, and I don't post much anyway unless I am sure of what I am going to say. I find it really awkward talking to people online.

 

[lunaticbinge]

Not for the most part. Posting and chatting isn't really a problem for me anymore. For some reason PMing is difficult though. Makes me feel like others think i'm ignoring them.

 

[vj288]

I chat well in big groups online I found, but one on one is more difficult.