Have you always been isolated

So what’s the main motivation for becoming so isolated? Is it you prefer your own company, are you uncomfortable around other people, feel like you have to put on an act when your around them or do you despise humanity to the point where you wish you didn’t have to interact with them at all?

Indifference. I can take it or leave it. I find people interesting so I'd never totally isolate. I mean, does rarely leaving the house but still reading the news count as isolation?

ZombieZ wrote:So what’s the main motivation for becoming so isolated? Is it you prefer your own company, are you uncomfortable around other people, feel like you have to put on an act when your around them or do you despise humanity to the point where you wish you didn’t have to interact with them at all?

All of my interests are solitary, and people get in the way of those pursuits. I don't obtain the same enjoyment from being around other people as I get from inanimate objects. I don't develop emotional attachments to people and can't really relate to anyone, so being around people is boring, stressful and tiring for me. Even though I may enjoy their company to some extent (the same enjoyment I get watching an entertaining person on tv), I never miss or even think about anyone, including family members. I pretty much dread any sort of social interaction, even if it's just once a year.

Despite my aversion and dread of socializing, I do force myself to attend family gatherings several times a year out of guilt and obligation, but doing so negatively affects my mental and emotional state and it feels like torture the entire time I am there.

iabsurdlyexist wrote:Indifference. I can take it or leave it. I find people interesting so I'd never totally isolate. I mean, does rarely leaving the house but still reading the news count as isolation?

I’ve never even considered someone could become so isolated they don’t even read the news or interact on the internet. I guess that would be an extreme level

ZombieZ wrote:I’ve never even considered someone could become so isolated they don’t even read the news or interact on the internet. I guess that would be an extreme level

My dad used to call me to look up cars on the internet. I gave him the impression I didn't want to help by telling him he should use the internet at my brother's house. Before my mother died, I don't even think she had a TV. She also lived in an old farm house miles from anywhere.

ZombieZ wrote:So what’s the main motivation for becoming so isolated?

For myself it's mostly the sense of being safe due to predictability vs stressful drama accompanying the added dopamine that I get when in control of my inner world. Real people ground me. Why would I want my "drug of choice" ripped away like that?

I don't bother with a mask. If anything that gets me the gift of spending less times with them. I don't get very emotionally attached (if at all) to people unless they're in my inner world (in other words not real). I don't include shadows of people I know there.

These factors I believe have made me socially numbed and isolated.

I do like socializing however when I'm not under too much stress.

ZombieZ wrote:I’ve never even considered someone could become so isolated they don’t even read the news or interact on the internet. I guess that would be an extreme level

I did both but never interacted. It took me a looooong time to sign up here. I'm a lurker on most sites I frequent. The exceptions were work related and those weren't close to anything I would've signed up for otherwise.

I don’t watch TV and live in an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. I think it’s been about 3 months since I last went looking for ‘news’. News is special in the sense that it’s difficult to think of anything that makes you so angry and bored at the same time.

Intoverted certainly but I’m not convinced it’s evidence of extreme SPD.

I love my solitary pursuits. They distract me from the vengeful fantasies that lurk in my inner world. They're amusing, fun, and stimulating. People are so boring that I just zone out and get caught up in my inner world while talking to them. That's if they don't stress me out with their perpetual issues.

Quoth wrote:I don’t watch TV and live in an old farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. I think it’s been about 3 months since I last went looking for ‘news’. News is special in the sense that it’s difficult to think of anything that makes you so angry and bored at the same time.

Intoverted certainly but I’m not convinced it’s evidence of extreme SPD.

3 months is a pretty long time. I think I could really take a turn to the extreme if I allowed it to happen. I have to work and I have friends and family commitments that make it impossible to completely isolate also I was always told that isolation will make you crazy eventually. I don’t know if that’s true but my concern is I would eventually cross some line and not be able to come back from it. So I always make sure I get human contact even if I don’t want it.

ZombieZ wrote:I’ve never even considered someone could become so isolated they don’t even read the news or interact on the internet. I guess that would be an extreme level

There's this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L72G8TLtTCk

He seems very friendly and not troubled at all though, so probably not disordered. Which only makes it even more curious that he exists.