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I’m a shy person. I always feel like I’m being weird or annoying, and I’m not sure why I feel that way exactly. There are very few people I’m comfortable around, and that makes for some socially awkward situations. You’d think talking online – not face to face – would be easy. Even that sort of interaction is a bit troublesome for me. For example, Facebook. It’s a great website, I love it, and it keeps me in touch with many people whom I do not see on a regular basis (including family). So tell me this, why does it feel so awkward for me to comment on the status of someone who is my ‘friend’ and who I’ve known from at least as far back as high school (which isn’t too long ago)? Part of me feels like they will be thinking “I haven’t talked to this person since sophomore year english class! How dare they comment on my life!” And I don’t mean the type of life changing criticisms. I’m talking more along the lines of saying “I also saw that episode of House, and I thought it was really clever!”. Why does that feel awkward? Then another thought comes to my mind. What if these people think I accepted their friend request or only added them for the prestige of having x amount of Facebook friends? I wish I could tell everyone on my friends list, “I think you’re all interesting people, and I’d love to chat with each and every one of you every once in a while, but I’m too shy and too worried I’m going to appear creepy, so I’ll just watch from afar like an actual creepy person and hope you don’t delete me from your friends list.” I’m not sure all of that will fit in a status message, and if it does, I’m not sure it will go over too well.
So what is it about the internet that is making people feel socially awkward again (I’m sure I’m not the only one!)? What once used to be a way of communicating without many fears (besides the occasional meet and greet rape session), has become more and more like real life situations. Has the internet become too personal?
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