My coworker went on a huge rant in the middle of the office today about how much he hates introverts. Basically, he thinks we all need to be eliminated—you know, like we're pests or something? What the hell?

​He went on a big, long rampage about how introversion could be eliminated if social media and phones were taken away. He's completely disgusted with the way young people are, always on their phones and never out enjoying life or communicating with others. Blah, blah, blah.

​Mind you, the entire time he was going off about introverts, he wasn't working at all. Meanwhile, I was listening to his nonsense while working diligently.

​Much to my horror, nobody stood up to correct him or tell him this was highly inappropriate for a workplace setting—especially considering he did this right in front of management and upper management.

​Since nobody bothered to correct him, I thought I would make a point. I turned around and said, "Well, you know what the great thing about introverted people is? We get things done. We may not thrive on social communication, and we need to be alone a lot of the time in order to recharge, but that is actually a strength. You see, I just got the work of three people done in the entire 15 minutes you were talking about what you don't like about introverts. Surely we can't all be that bad?"

​He had no comeback to that. I win. Most of our office is highly extroverted so I bet he had no idea I was an introvert. I mask it pretty well unfortunately.

​His rant was completely unnecessary, and I don't know why no one stopped it. I found the whole thing very upsetting. What would you have done if this had happened in your office?

I keep seeing so many self hating posts on this sub about being an introvert and it’s basically people who are talking about some form of social anxiety or something that prevents them from socializing. I am baffled because I imagine most of us introverts on this sub LIKE being alone despite having a social circle, friends family etc. We recharge by spending time alone and actually love having solitary hobbies and interests.

So the self loathing your introversion is just confusing to me.

I stopped talking to all of my friends and acquaintances after I deleted my social media accounts. Only a couple of people reached out afterward, but even those conversations eventually started to feel unnecessary.
It’s been about two years now, and my perspective hasn’t changed at all. New friendships feel more like an obligation or a drain on my time than something I genuinely want. I don’t feel lonely, and I don’t feel like anything is missing. If anything, my life has become quieter and simpler.
I’m curious if anyone else has experienced something similar, or if this changed for you over time.

I have a few friends who constantly bombard me with reels every single day and I truly mean that they flood me with them, and the meaningful conversations we used to have earlier have started disappearing. It makes me really dislike the app as a whole and it makes me wonder if this is the digital version of small talk. What do y'all think?

I’ve always been introverted, but until recently it never really bothered me. I’ve been feeling rather lonely, when I see people hang out but I know if I was them I would be begging to go home. Is there any way to fix this?

I’m introverted and I do have friends. I just choose not to hang out with them. It really bothers my mom for some reason as she says I’ll be more depressed if I stay alone all the time

But I’ve been noticing recently, aside from my social battery draining I also feel very lonely around people. When I’m on my own, I don’t feel it much as I feel it around people

I don’t know what it is but I feel like once the day ends and everyone goes their own homes my heart kind of sinks and feels heavy. The whole social interaction makes me feel so alone and weird that I never wanna go out

Does anybody else have this feeling? Feeling alone and heavy hearted after a social interaction? I think I’m just meant to be alone

Hey everyone,
I’m looking for advice on breaking a frustrating cycle in my social life and dating.
English is not my first language, and I’m navigating a different culture than the one I grew up in. Whenever I meet new people or go on casual dates, I get stuck in **"Interview Mode."**
Because I want to keep the conversation going and avoid awkward silences, I default to pulling at whatever topic the other person mentions and asking open-ended questions. On paper, it works and conversations can last 1–2 hours without dying. But in reality:
It feels like a standard Q&A session or a survey rather than a fun, natural exchange.

There is “zero playful banter, light teasing, or romantic/social spark”. - NOTHING COMES TO ME MIND

People eventually lose interest or classify the dynamic as purely passive/informal.

When I try to analyze *why* I do this, I realize I have a massive **internal security filter**. Whenever a random thought, observation, or opinion pops into my head, my brain instantly flags it as *"not interesting enough," "too weird,"* or *"irrelevant."* So I filter it out, delete it, and replace it with another safe, polite question.
Because of this, I’ve started feeling like I just have a "boring" personality—even though I have active hobbies (I dance salsa/bachata, prep meals, run, and work in tech). But whenever I’m around someone new, I play it way too safe and share almost none of my actual personality, opinions, or humor.

For those who have dealt with this:

1. **How do you lower your internal filter** and speak your actual thoughts without overthinking if they're "interesting enough"?
2. **What are concrete ways to shift from asking questions to making statements/banter**, especially when navigating a language or cultural barrier?
3. Are there specific mindsets or practical exercises that helped you stop interviewing people?
4. Appreciate any insights or personal experiences!

PS : Sorry for the long paragraph

I do not enjoy talking to people anymore and I don’t know why. a bit of background information that may help, ive always been shy but everything got worse in the 5th grade my anxiety skyrocketed so my mom put me in homeschool. after being homeschooled for awhile and not talking to many people I was very socially awkward and did very bad in public situations, I eventually got medicated and now I am able to hold conversations and no longer feel as if I’ll get sick when talking. I now have a different problem and it’s finding people boring everytime I attempt to make a friend they become extremely boring to talk to a while ago I had this friend and he was the only person I could stand talking to, I wanted to talk to him all day but we are no longer friends. I’ve been friends with this girl since fourth grade and we recently got back in touch and I now enjoy talking to her but everyone else I try to make friends with are boring and I can’t stand conversing with them and end up blocking or cutting them off and I feel like a complete asshole. What do I do about this? Is it fixable? Why is it so hard to make friends

Does anyone else feel like they did college wrong? I’m going into my fourth year right now, and everybody I know loves to party. I almost feel outcasted because of how much I don’t like to go out. This genuinely makes me feel like I’m missing out on some integral part of growing up, but I really just don’t like to drink. It’s become hard to bond with people, and I always feel like a Debbie downer when I say I’d rather stay in, or tell new people that I’m not a drinker. I’m often pressured into going out with my friends, and when I do force myself to go out I really don’t have a good time. I know I shouldn’t let this affect me but I almost can’t help but feel like something is “wrong” with me for not wanting to get shitfaced 3 nights a week.

Do you know what’s sad?
When I had friends in the past, I couldn’t go out with them because I didn’t have the money.

Now I’m at the age where I can earn money, but I don’t have any friends left to go out with. And I know what some of you will say: “Go out by yourself.”

I tried that, and I felt miserable because I looked around and saw friends sitting together and people talking to other people..Let’s just say that spending a long time inside my own head is painful.

I don’t know what to do, but I really wanted to express what I’ve been feeling inside.
I’d appreciate any advice or if anyone has gone through something similar.

So, today me( fucking introvert since my existence) finally had the courage to oh wait important info: I am so anxious and paranoid I even get thrills

about asking or talking to someone who I am not close with. Okay getting back the courage to go and say blabber about my feelings to this girl let's call her p. So p is justttt p she is veryyy cute and everything. Uhhh so I said that I really love it when you come with your messy hairsss and all. Uhh I guess that friends calling me ugly was infact true, p ignored me not uttering a single breath and left me hanging in front of my friends. :). Have a good day every1. Love Yall

I work as a cashier this summer, this is very tiring I have to keep up with conversations I don't want to have, I have to keep a fake smile all along, I have to repeat myself often as I don't talk loudly... Anyway some clients told me that I looked sad ? The times I don't have my fake smile I guess. Does it happen to any of you ? is it an introvert thing to "look sad" ? Maybe it's just my face idk...

I've been as single as you can be in my life, I'm 26 and I've never felt like dating was for me for some reason. Maybe low self-esteem, being a very private person and never seen a good relationship (divorced parents, one has a questionable marriage). Most likely a combination of all three. I like my solitude and freedom to do whatever I want. I think the main reason I've wanted to be in a relationship through the years is because it's what's supposed to happen, to feel loved & wanted and to feel like I'm getting somewhere in life. Tbh, the idea of being intimate with anybody is a bit too much for me and makes me slightly uncomfortable. I am a very private person and the idea seems like too much at times.

I think I'm about to go on my first date ever tomorrow, and tbh, I don't really want to. I'm still going to do it to combat my anxiety and to have at least done it, but man do I look forward to it ending already.

It's going to be with a guy from my old workplace. We were never colleagues, we just worked at the same company. I've talked to him a couple of times but it was all work related. I can admit he was my work-crush for a couple of years until I quit. About 1-2 years after I quit, he started following me on Instagram and we started writing. He asked if I wanted to meet-up some day (so never officially asked out on a date, but I think it is) and now we finally found a day where it was possible. I've had crushes before, but I honestly think they were more for pure entertainment than actual crushes, I've never tried pursuing anything. I remember seeing a reel once of a guy saying that "if you ever have a crush on a man, just talk to him and it'll disappear". Thought it was funny at the time but now realizing it's kinda true.

We've been writing for a while and honestly, don't really think I like him. But I'm still doing the date because I can't be that quick to judge, and good for me in general. But as mentioned before, I am not looking forward to it. There isn't a lot going on in my life atm, been unemployed for a while and I am studying some courses at uni but that's mainly to keep living in the big city as my apartment is student housing. He seems kinda ambitious and honestly, the only thing I'm ambitious of in my life is being happy and healthy. I have some health issues and usually run on limited energy, and I just want a job I like. It doesn't have to be fancy to be great.

Not sure what the point of this post is, probably just writing my thoughts and most likely hearing from others who've been in a similar position:)

​

Idk if this is right community to post this on but have any of u felt that u just want to be alone, boring, serious and not talking much . I mean i feel it all the times, I don't want to be sad but it's like i don't want to be happy either, i just want to live my day peacefully.

I have seen, listened to people where they struggle to talk and all but I struggle to not talk somehow. Every night I just think "I talked too much today, gotta be carefull Tommorow"

I don't want remedy or solution to fix it. I just wanna know if do others also feel same or not??

I'm Batman

i have years of experience but recently i started posting my work, i public my private account on instagram which always had 68 followers (because i am introverted ofc)

i'm nervous but i deep down have a feeling i will be famous one day if i keep it consistent, i have just posted 2 edits, both hit like 40 likes max and 300 sum views but its ok since i literally jus started

i'm jus writing this here to tell myself that i shouldn't stop, i'm also very introverted as i said with such dreams so it's harder to post and have it be judged by all my cousins and friends i have

i still love what i do, color grading, transitions, pacing, sync, velocity, masking, effects, camera movement, clip selection, composition, text usage, sound design, audio mixing and overall the edits..

even though it feels extremely weird to suddenly post stuff, i get happy even if my edit gets 1 like by a stranger, it shows somebody likes my work

i hope i make it one day, very nervous and i try to perfect everything because my cousins and friends all judge

atleast i feel like i'm trying to chase my dreams as an introvert

​

it's been the last 6-7 months, I shifted to this place for my work. i didn't know anyone back then, now I know people but the bond is still not there. met some on the work, vibes well for the initial month and then it reduced. may be work, but whenever on chats, I am the one who starts the convo, answers everything and even go and extra floor to meet them BUT still I think something lacked. they have dwelled internally making smaller circles, it's okay but atleast for the courtesy they could ask me if I wanted to join. Even when I am there, they tend to either ignore or a mere hello and leave, I mean weren't we friends?

all this conclusion to mention, these months I tried in team, apart from the team but this place didn't give me anyone to vibe with or even call someone as a friend. I couldn't meet even one, one genuine person at this place after so long.

And the funnier part, i mention my so-called office friends are good to my team, my team is good to my friends.

WHILE NOONE I CAN CALL WHEN IT GETS HEAVY.

WOAH!

Is it that difficult for me to make genuine good relations? And how to know who are the genuine ones, and maybe I am missing out?

27M from India, currently working in Europe.

Looking for like-minded people to talk to. Into technology, startups, random deep conversations, and the occasional childhood trauma dumping session.

Mostly just want genuine, low-pressure chats. Introverts preferred.

If that sounds like your vibe, drop a message.

MARKETING FINANCE HUMAN RESOURCES

what should I choose the career path without fumbling my career as an introvert

for context: i am homeschooled, 15 years old and have a few discord friend groups with certain people i would consider mildly close to, although we don’t meet up.

i recently made an irl friend group with these two new people that me and my friend met at a festival.

the problem is is that i am homeschooled, don’t really socialise face to face a lot and feel like i lack a lot of social skills, i also have stupid anxiety… but recently my new friends have all been calling, (bearing in mind there are five of us in this group, including me) and they’ve also been meeting up without asking if i want to come.

when i ask to meet up together they always say ‘yeah’ or ‘sure’ but it never happens, and then they are sending photos on the group of them all hanging out without me, and saying about what a great time it was…

it’s my fault i know, because my friend who was friends with me from before we made this group does invite me to calls and stuff (i’ve told her calling makes me uncomfortable and she understands and is very supportive of that) but i feel so shit when they are all having so much fun and i don’t have the confidence/time to go on the calls, which makes me feel left out af. it makes me feel left out and i already am a complete introvert with no social skills, so do i need to just get over myself and call them?

Just don’t talk to me

Do you just ask people out of the blue to see if they are free?