If you have no or few friends, you are not broken. You are yourself. And that's not a bad thing.

[CousinIT]

[MustLoveBeagles]

1. Thanks

I used to think something was wrong with me because of it.

[highplainsdem]

19. You're fine, but the videos on that channel are made with AI. See reply 17.

[dwp6577]

2. thanks for this...me in a nutshell N/T

[groundloop]

3. Anymore I tend to like dogs better than a lot of people.

[CousinIT]

16. I have a little plaque in my house that says:

”Nobody understands me but my cat.”

I’m now catless for the first time in years, but the plaque still applies!

[slightlv]

4. I always have said I consider 4 leggeds to be much better company than 2-leggeds!

Having said that, I have a very few extremely close friendships. If you do it right, friendships are as difficult to maintain as marriages. I don't see how I could have a ton of good friends; I don't have that much time or energy to invest in a bunch of people. BUT... our small little cadre branches out, and so I have a lot of associates that are all but friends. People I enjoy seeing or talking with at gatherings, but that I wouldn't speak anything private to them.

Suits me just fine. These days, my circle has ramped down very small. The girlfriends I had that were really close to me either have disabilities like mine and are thus impeded from getting out or doing anything much... or they've already died. At my time of life, we lose more than we gain, it seems...

[mobeau69]

5. It's better to be alone than to be with someone and wishing you were alone.

[MustLoveBeagles]

6. Isn't that the truth

[CousinIT]

11. Absolutely. n/t

[ColoringFool]

7. I Had 5 Friends As Of July. Then One Died. Another Has ....

Seemingly acquired some dementia, and her husband and sister are preventing her from leaving her house.

Two have become only email "friends" who pal around together and never invite me.

The 5th is the whacko (as in, sees a psychiatrist weekly) brother of the deceased friend.

I am a widowed, orphaned, childless Only Child.

THAT IS ALONE, MES AMIS. THAT IS ALONE.

[MIButterfly]

8. I only have a few friends, but they're good ones.

Lord knows, I've had some false ones over the years, but thankfully, they're long gone. I consider myself lucky to have the few good ones I have.

And I certainly can't talk about good people without including all the great ones here on DU! You have kept me sane more times than I can count. I've laughed; I've cried; I've commiserated; I've been informed; and I've been amazed by the incredible talent and kindness of so many members. You remind me that good, decent, kind, caring people still exist, even in this national nightmare we go through on a daily basis. I can't thank you enough for being here. DU forever!!! I love and appreciate you all.

[BaronChocula]

9. I used to be a lot more gregarious

I enjoyed using my witty talents to entertain, but there was some ambivalence. Then I realized that I have some form of social anxiety. I now don't like being around a lot of people and it's been like that for years. Some people would call me oversensitive, but I just consider myself hyperaware. I'm very sensitive to other people's dysfunctional behavior even when it's minor. Can't stand being with people who don't listen, speak all in clichés, are only concerned with what everyone else is talking about, and, well, I can go on. Oh! And I'm really bugged by people who just heard of something basic that's new to them and then they go on to tell you about it assuming you've never heard of it even though you have. Happened to me the other day. That phone conversation didn't last long.

While I have no problem with keeping my distance with people I do appreciate the patience other people have with putting up with annoying company.

[Zackzzzz]

10. First, Sing it,

"Always look on the bright side of life".

Second, when I look back in history,
to the destruction of people and things,
we all can say,
"We can't have nice things".

[Raine]

12. No friends, that's me but I'm good with it. 🙂 nt

[ananda]

13. I had good friends before COVID.

Then they all died or went insane
on anti-vax hydroxychloroquine
stuff.

I have four friends now, but only
one lives here in Austin.

Why I'm so content just hanging
out in my place, I don't know.
But I like it.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. glurge

[highplainsdem]

18. The entire channel is apparently AI-generated. See reply 17.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

20. I'm saying

[highplainsdem]

21. I wasn't sure exactly how to read "glurge" but it could be a drowning-in-AI-slop noise. And YouTube

is certainly drowning in AI slop these days.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

22. Glurge is a pre-AI term for slop. There were plenty of memes in FB's heydey that told people how very special they were

for having a certain number of friends or not loving small talk or feeling exhausted after intense conversations with people. People just take glurge and add a lil AI and start a YT channel and voila, they're monetizing.

[highplainsdem]

24. Thanks! I hadn't run across that term before. I thought you might have meant a glug-like sound.

[WarGamer]

15. Post.Of.The.Day

[highplainsdem]

17. The videos on that YouTube channel are made with AI, probably with the script written by AI. NOT

put together by a real psychologist.

Whoever has that channel has posted 26 videos in the last six weeks. No videos before that.

There's a link asking people to sign up at beehiiv.com for their newsletter, but no info there.

No credentials or links to a serious website.

The videos use more than one narrative voice - I noticed three different voices just clicking on several videos - and they sound like AI.

The artwork is in different styles, all of which look like AI.

There are misspellings showing on the videos.

For instance, a video with the title below it "If you have gone through too much" has the thumbnail for the video with the words "People who have gone throug alot."

A video with the title "Everyday choices that secretly lower your intelligence" has the thumbnail with the words "Choices that lower's your IQ."

Whatever choices they made apparently lowered theirs.

No halfway educated person, let alone a psychologist, would put out something so illiterate.

These are clickbait videos by someone using AI, who could very well be asking the chatbot for more topics for more clickbait videos.

If you want to read about psychology, you can find lots of information online, including on YouTube, from real experts.

There's very little chance that whoever has that channel is any kind of expert on psychology.

[Mossfern]

23. This video produced by AI or not

speaks to me.

I see that I do indeed have lots of company considering the posts in this thread.
Very late in life I received validation via brain maps that showed irregularities in connections and activity in certain
areas of my brain that I am very much "neurodivergent."

All the guilt and shame visited upon me from early childhood on because I was/am "weird" is just because I'm
wired differently melted away. All attempts by my parents to have me make friends with other little girls were in vain. I wanted to be alone, thank you - to read, to dream (asleep and awake). Fortunately I met a man who found my idiosyncrasies charming and raised children who would not have it any other way.