/feels/ - scared of online interaction

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scared of online interaction Anonymous 02/20/24 (Tue) 11:25:27 PM109886

How to get over that fear? After years of dwelling on imageboards and only interacting as an anonymous user I feel constant fear when talking to other people online. Owning an account makes me panic. Etc. Stuff like that. I am paranoid and I imagine catastrophe scenarios happening to me. I hate it. I wish I wasn't so weak. I'm the type of person to panic over a small hate comment, I know it's pathetic. It's funny because I've spent so many years on 4chan and the like and I feel that instead of building character it just traumatized me into fearing everyone. Please tell me there's a way out of this paranoid thinking loop. I want to be peaceful.

Anonymous 02/21/24 (Wed) 04:48:20 AM109892

Don't reveal personal info. It should be fine.

Anonymous 02/23/24 (Fri) 03:25:45 PM110002

Get off 4chan, touch grass, don't talk to incels. Realize that arguing on the internet is pathetic, touch grass again

Anonymous 02/23/24 (Fri) 03:57:58 PM110005

If you mind your business and don't engage with hate you shouldn't stir up anything too huge. And don't discuss sex with minors, which is very doable if you just avoid them.
If someone argues with you unprompted literally just ignore them.

Anonymous 03/05/24 (Tue) 01:31:55 AM110428

I was the same 8 years ago. What helped me was to meet a cool, very chill girl on discord, who was casually very open with everything. Like she already invited me to come to a BBQ the same day we first started talking privately in dms. But she wasn’t stupid or naive. She wasn’t a tech boomer. She enjoyed edgy jokes and memes, which is why she liked talking to me and what we bonded over. I later still deleted my discord out of online paranoia, but I try to emulate her a bit and also see the advantages of having a rich social media presence, because it can make certain things easier. That’s like the original idea of social media. It was always meant to help you with your real social life and not replace it.

Anonymous 03/09/24 (Sat) 02:20:13 PM110567

>>109886
Just keep separate accounts, don't put all your eggs in one basket and tie everything to your IRL. As long as you can always delete an account and make a new one, it doesn't matter.
I was in the same situation as you and that's what I did. Once you realise that it's almost as transient as anonymous posts - just make a new one if you want to remove your previous history - it gets a lot easier. And then after a while you get used to having at least some history, and you can slowly acclimatise yoursely to using accounts more permanently.

Though not tying anything to IRL is also just basic precaution online, unless you're specifically talking to people that you know (or want to know) IRL. But you can build up somewhat more persistent identities slowly, as you gradually get more comfortable with it.

I still mainly go online anonymously but I do have a few active accounts in various places that I've kept alive for multiple years by now, and haven't felt the need to delete so far. You'll get there.