I’m (19F by the way, not like 50) a bad texter. I can be not dry when I want to be, but usually I’m just not up for texting. I really don’t engage with my friends. (I’m asocial).
I don’t participate in their activities. I don’t really ask them how they are, or what their interests are. I don’t even engage in deep discussion with them unless I’m up for it.
When my friend sends a video that reminded her of me or that she finds funny, I don’t click it and just ignore it.
Maybe my friends are growing apart and they text me less because of this, but I’m kind of okay with that because I know they will be there for me when I need it and because I’m genuinely just tired/bored most of the time.
One time, my friend asked me if I’d like to spend time with her, and I just point-blank said “No”. IDK if that’s rude just because I’m being honest and also because it’s not personal, I don’t want to engage with anyone.
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It seems like you don’t put any effort in the friendship, and expect that your friends “will be there for you”. That’s selfish.
You should see her other comments. She thinks her friends are useless and wonders “Why try if you suck at everything?”
She thinks that she will always be better than her friends and that she’s better than them at sports “without trying”.
Do you think this is just a troll or an actual teen? I don’t want to waste my time on trolls.
I’m not sure, I knew a mentally ill teen like this. Maybe she is a highly emotionally immature teen.
Oh, I remember you, I’ve seen a couple threads from you over the past couple days. So, let’s recap a few of the things I’ve seen you say.
I view people as more tools than anything
They also say I’m a bad sport for calling them useless pieces of crap all the time
I remember one time someone stole the ball from my friend so I called my friend helpless and useless.
When I see someone being useless, I call them out for it. I will always be better than my friends
When something I do is considered “wrong” or “bad”, I genuinely don’t consider it morally wrong at all. I only know it’s wrong because someone told me it is, and if their telling me that doesn’t benefit me in some way, I tend to blame them and see them as acting irrationally.
I call my friends useless and horrible, and I really have no guilt/remorse or sympathy about that. I feel like I can treat them however I want without much remorse. In fact, I feel like most of the time, I’m right to treat people this way.
I want to maintain a good public image, so i say people should be kind and that bullying is wrong, because it’s been done to me amend doesn’t feel good. But to be honest, I couldn’t care less about how other people feel if it doesn’t impact me.
I believe I can feel remorse sometimes, such as if they do something that isn’t benefitting me
That last one really cracks me up. You only feel remorse when someone else does something that doesn’t benefit you. That’s not how remorse works. Remorse is felt when you yourself have done something wrong and are ashamed of it. But based on the things you’ve said, you don’t ever really feel bad about your own actions, maybe at the most giving it a “yeah, I know people say this is wrong”, but it doesn’t look like you ever actually feel it. A lot of what you say reads as the most narcissistic shit I’ve ever seen in my life.
So to answer your question for this thread. Yes. You are a bad friend. Get therapy. Seriously.
Or don’t, and I’m sure you’ll have no friends at all soon enough. But I’m sure you’ll be able to rationalize that as being their fault anyway, so don’t worry, you won’t even have to feel any sort of remorse!
Wow. This reads like the ramblings of a narcissist, a sociopath, or someone incredibly neurodivergent (I am neurodiverse myself).
I agree that they should seek therapy to understand themself.
It could also be that they’re very poor at wording their feelings as I can be like that sometimes and it makes me seem like a nutter, when in fact I just articulated it incorrectly.
I don’t think I have narcissism, just ADHD and depression. Is there a way i can have friends without socializing all the time? I’m quite burnt out because I don’t like most people
Maybe you are a narcissist and maybe you aren’t, neither of us are actually qualified to make that call. A therapist that you see regularly would be, however. Now, while I say I’m not qualified to make that call, I will say that the shit you say is 100% the same shit a narcissist would.
Signs of narcissistic personality disorder include exaggerated sense of self-importance (“I will always be better than my friends”), lack of empathy (“I feel like I can treat them however I want without much remorse. In fact, I feel like most of the time, I’m right to treat people this way.”), and a tendency to exploit others (“I view people as more tools than anything”).
Everything you said that I quoted in my post above is a red flag for narcissism. I could’ve quoted a lot more than I did even, but I figured those would be enough to get the point across.
Now, as for your question about “can I have friends without socializing all the time,” maybe first you should ask yourself, “Do I actually want friends? Or do I just want more tools I can use?” Cuz I don’t believe that you actually want friends.
But regardless, whether it’s ADHD and depression, or narcissism, or some combination of all three, the answer remains the same. You need to find a therapist, and you need to do the work. Work on becoming a decent human who actually cares about other people, aside from how they can benefit you, and having friends will liekly follow.
What don’t you like about most people?
I have ADHD too and exhibit some narcissistic tendencies and I find that I don’t like socialising when I’m tired, struggling to not obsess over a new hobby (like playing a new game, I need to make a conscious effort to see friends and stuff), or just burnt out.
I like to think that I have a social battery and if I don’t charge that up then I’ll be like this.
You should pay particular attention to how I said make a conscious effort to see friends. As friendship is a two way relationship and you have to put effort into them.
It could also be that you have the wrong friend group, unlikely, but possible. I’ve come to realise ghat all my friends of decades, are selfish and don’t make the same considerations as I do when thinking about them. Time keeping for instance. If I was going to pick up a friend I would be on time and I would message them to come out once I’m 1 min away. Whereas my friends will be late, not update me on time scales and tell me to come out when they’re still 10 minutes away. Meaning that they’re not really thinking about my needs and weighing them against their own, and rather are just thinking of themselves.
OP at 29:
I don’t have any friends and it is so hard to make them as adult.
Yeah, probably :(
Nah, you’re on a good path. If you continue to work on yourself, accept your shortcomings, you really can’t do anything wrong. Only staying still would be a problem. The fact that you ask here is already proof of the opposite.
Thank you!!
I would expect that if you continue this, your friends will disengage as well. and no, they will not be there for you if you need it.
I don’t like engaging with people either TBH. Why wouldn’t they be there for me?
Well, if you are never there, then you aren’t there for them. Thus, they will not be there for you in the future, because you haven’t bothered to be there when they needed it.
When you say friends, what do you think friends are? It sounds like you’re not engaging or taking an interest at all. They sound like acquaintances, people you know. Not friends.
Makes sense. They help me sometimes and I’m quite friendly to them in person
I responded to the last time you posted this, that yes you are. I would just stop responding to you. If you don’t want to engage then why respond at all? You can type out this long post but only one worded replies?
Well I can talk about my feelings and experiences easily, I’m just bad at communicating with people unless I’m interested in it
Feels like you don’t want to be friends with them. You respond more to me than them and idk you.
I mean, I guess I do, but I’m terrible at socializing and also don’t like it
Socialization is a skill, not a gift. If you want to become strong, you have to work out at the gym, if you want to socialize, you have to interact more with people.
Very few people are bad at socializing, they’re bad at making an effort to socialize, because it’s painful at the beginning, like working out.
May be due to a traumatic experience, a pernicious or sheltered environment, even plain laziness; but we are not set in stone, we can change if we want to, and are grown ups enough to live with the consequences if we don’t.
Thank you so much. It’s probably a mix of depression and laziness then
Was this a better effort?
“how are you?”
“Listening to music.”
“what band??”
“Idk. Metallica or something”
“what song from them? i love metallica”
“Idk”
—- “what are you up to today?”
“Watching TV”
“what show?”
“Idk I can’t say”
Also, do I actually type like a 50-year-old?
you don’t type like a 50 year old, you type like someone who’s not interested in having a conversation
Of course not, if I was chatting with you I’d feel like I was bothering you.
- “How are you?”
- “Listening to music”
- “What band?”
- “It’s on shuffle, I think it’s Metallica”
- “What song from them? I love Metallica”
- “IDK, let me check. It’s ‘Sad But True’. I think it’s actually good”.
—-
- “What are you up to today?”
- “Watching TV”
- “What show?”
- “It’s Rick and Morty, but don’t tell anyone”
- “Why?”
- “I’m afraid others will think I’m an incel or something”
My mom and mother-in-law are in their 80s, and they’re not great texters but you can tell they’re making an effort, and that counts a lot. It’s not about caring about how well you text, but how a series of dry answers might make your friends feel like a nuisance.
You need to “groom” others to care about you so they tolerate antisocial behaviors, but not all people can be groomed this way.
this sounds far better than how OP texts
My new response as “I’M WATCHING. A MOVIE!!!” :)
My friend just asked if I was ok.
Update: I said “NOOOO.” and she blocked me??
Not really better. How do you not know what you’re doing? Did the show just randomly come on when you turned on the TV/Metallica song came up in a playlist?
No
If you don’t like socializing, you won’t have friends. Those things go hand-in-hand.
Maybe examining why you feel this way about socializing would help. Do you really not enjoy all socializing, or just certain things?
Socializing is a major part of life, you could almost say it’s “The Thing”. I’m not saying you need to go throw on a lampshade every day, just that we’re all engaging with each other every day. You may talk to a sibling for a while, then a friend, have lunch with a coworker, take a walk with someone from a class to discuss what you’re not getting.
Without socializing, we may as well go live in a cave, and that’s not good (nor realistic).
I guess I just feel more energized when I’m alone
Relationships and conversations require both sides to put in effort, or else they die.
You say you know that they will be there when you need it, but are you sure? It doesn’t sound like you’re giving them what they need.
Yes, I feel pretty confident in saying that in this case you are the problem. I have sympathy for antisocial behaviour as I’m that way myself too but you seem just straight up rude if not even mean.
because I know they will be there for me when I need it
I wouldn’t count on it.
How did you enhance interactions with people?
Sounds like depression to me. Tired and bored all the time are quite classic signs of it. Maybe try and seek some help while you are still young? Before letting it manifest into something bigger
I actually do have diagnosed depression since age 17
How are you treating it? And if not you should start. Don’t let it grow now
Thank you, I’ll try, i just try to let it pass for now because my depression is on and off. Usually, I’m a very happy person.
You are the best friend. You tell it like it is. When a funeral comes around, you smirk in the knowledge that we’ll all be dead soon. People need spicy truths like that distilled into one word responses, it screams of eloquence and high-brow thinking.
Why waste time on the uggs, when you can use that time more efficiently to work on your charming personality.
I personally think you are a visionary in this respect, and am certain that I would have to avert my gaze from the sheer blinding sheen of being in the presence of a superior being if I were to ever share the same planet as you.
Thanks!!
I have to ask - did you read that entire comment and not detect any hint of sarcasm?
Did you actually think this wasn’t complete sarcasm?
Of course not. She screams of eloquence and high-brow thinking, and mere sarcasm I does not match her level of comprehension. She’s otherworldly
I can’t comprehend sarcasm that well, sorry 😓
It’s not really about the sarcasm itself, what they were saying was so ridiculous that having that as an actual opinion is just completely unrealistic. It shows that your conecpt of reality in ragards to yourself, i.e. self-awareness, is currently very lacking.
Eh, I’m sure my friends think that about me too. They come to me for help/advice and talk about how pretty I am.
They also are very kind to me. They do things for me and give things to me as gifts. This one lady bought me something even
Plenty of responses to your previous post about dry texts
Yikes, are you ok? Being asocial is generally not regarded as being healthy. Also fyi, you’re at an age where you have to engage with friends to keep them, they will drift away otherwise. Loneliness is a massive bitch and I’d really difficult to get out of. Friendships like any relationship require maintenance. You’re neglecting your relationship maintenance at the moment if you continue, you will loose your friends.
Thank you. No I am not okay, thank you for asking. My friend just blocked me, apparently because she’s going to “leave me alone now”
Yeah, that checks out, but remember youre not a fundamentally bad person. You can possibly even salvage the friendship with apologies and doing some work on yourself. Either way, working on yourself is a good idea, it’s worth it just in general also.
It seems obvious you know your behavior sucks. You can either make an effort, which most people actually do, or you can pretend you don’t understand and use it as an excuse.
Eventually they won’t be there for you. Why would they when you can’t even be polite or watch their stupid little half a minute videos.
Relationships take effort. It’s easy to notice when the effort is only one sided and it’s very hard to come back from it once it’s clear. Minimum effort or less doesn’t make for good friendships.
What if I’m too depressed to watch their videos, let alone text?
Then you’re a bad friend because of your depression. It’s unfortunate and not something you should feel even more bad/depressed about, but it’s simply true.
If they’re good friends they will understand if you just tell them the truth. Instead of saying “No” you can just say, “sorry, I’m really depressed, I can’t do this”. It’s a bit longer to write/say, but at least you’re communicating honestly.
If you want to be a good friend and actually be friends with these specific people, you got to work on your depression somehow, if it is truly what is causing this behavior.
Thank you so much. I told my friends that I was really depressed and that I was sorry.
I’m glad :) I hope you can get to a better place with your depression. I’ve been through it, I know how much it sucks. If you need more advice/explanations/help, don’t hesitate to ask.
Many people in here treated you very unfairly, because you did sound very much like you’re saying “I’m incredibly amazing and can do nothing wrong”, and some people assume that such a person could never do something different and they absolutely hate that.
A healthy confidence is incredibly important, but so is knowing that you’re not perfect either. I’m very proud that it seems like you can do both :)
Thank youuu!
Oh ok
It is probably the case that if your friends do veiw you as a friend and aren’t made aware that this isn’t because of something they did but a way you are then this behaviour is likely hurting them to some degree or another. Your discription of how you interfsce with friends is fairly consistent with cluster B personality disorders but that doesn’t mean it’s automatically bad. It does mean that if you want to become a safe person to associate socially with you are going to need to put in more work than average to learn what other people generally need out of relationships and to recognize pain that is going to be difficult to empathize with… And if you decide to become a safe person it will mean being more open with your friends about parts of the human experience that are assumed but in your case not shared.
Most people have needs out of friendships that if they are not met and they cannot identify why they are not met they can sort of look inwards and self emotionally mutilate, picking themselves apart to find what it wrong with themselves to warrant cold behaviour. People’s first instinct is to ask “what about me makes me undeserving.” and are very good at populating a list.
Guilt and shame for most of us is the fastest emotional response. It is way faster than reason. People who think they may have wronged you or are being rejected by you will feel guilty first and then have to pick the emotion apart to figure out if they should actually feel guilt or shame… and then even if they realize they did nothing wrong might still feel guilt or rejection. A lot of being a safe person regardless of whether one has disordered emotional issues or not involves making sure they have the tools to not feel guilt, shame or rejection for very long. The faster they can rationalize and compartmentalize what is happening isn’t about them it is about you the more likely it is to not stick and develop into a longer term emotional injury or weakness. Once someone has been put in a position to effectively bully themselves that creates possible long term damage. A lot of the time, particularly for young people first experiencing this who have not learned how to be safe around people with cluster B disorders the outcome resolves as long term anger towards the person who made them question themselves.
If your friends are growing apart it may be because they already think you do not care about them and have already gone through this self bullying process but have now started to trade notes to see if they are the problem or not. If they reach a mutual concensus about you being emotionally unrecipricative then they might withdraw to avoid being hurt further. A sense of being valued in some form is a nessisary portion of friendship for most people. They will project that assumption of being valued and emotionally cared for onto you by default if you act like a friend because that is something they do when they act that way and even if they logically know it isn’t reciprocated they might not give up on you if you show effort to keep them in your life. Someone who acts like a friend but never did show signs of caring is more often than not going to be falsely attributed as once caring but withdrawing that care for a reason, which is in some relationship circumstances is inflicted as a punishment. So even if it’s not your intention people might interpret your behaviour not as rude but as a deliberate act of cruelty.
If you want them to stick around then letting them know that you like the experience of them as people in some way is key. Like if you find them more entertaining than most or recognize their good qualities then letting them know is what is going to keep them around.
What nobody tells you is that people before the age of 25 tend to make closer relationships where they emotionally risk more and become closer faster. Generally speaking it is more difficult to make as dedicated friends as an older adult as people are less likely to latch and a lot of people when they fail to make these types of high risk close friendships later in life interpret themselves as deficient as a person. You are in the prime age of emotionally high risk but high reward friendships. That does mean that the way these friendships resolve might become formative to the people around you as you might be one of the first non-safe relationships they have as they have not built adequate defenses. Wounds suffered in youth have an outsized effect and if things go particularly south without adequate explanation they may particularly remember you long term as a source of personal anguish.
Remember this, vulnerability is a bonding behaviour, your vulnerability just works a lot different than other people’s. People might reject you if they can’t figure out how to interface with your type of vulnerability but some will genuinely recognize it as you risking something because you ultimately value them not being hurt over their usefulness and function in your life. There are a lot of people out there with empathy above and beyond the median… But I would recommend therapy for lessons on how to navigate relationships in a non-standard way.
Thank you so much!