Quote Originally Posted by WalshFan88 View Post
Totally my issue as well.

I didn't get along with my peers growing up, the kids thought I was different and treated differently than them because I'm disabled and so they got jealous and I was bullied severely so I grew up being anti-social and not liking real social interaction. I became a hermit and kept to myself, and still do.

Online is so easy to do, so easy to fake confidence or social skills. Hence why it's my drug. It feels comfortable and I don't have that painful feeling I get when I have to interact with people I don't know well.
That sounds almost like me, even the disabled part(mild cerebral palsy). I'm lucky that bullying never happened at my school(apart from the occasional "four eyes" taunt). I was the nerd, but I didn't do much talking. I kept to myself. I wasn't popular, but not exactly an outcast. I felt comfortable at school.
It was at home where the anti-social/hermit thing begin to form. My mom was my bully, verbally and emotionally. It got worse after my dad died to point where now, I usually only leave the house to go to a few places.That's why I'm dreading trying to attend college. I honestly don't think that I can handle it. I nearly had a panic attack when reading the housing info of the local college a few days ago! I'm still living with my mom, and it's not a great situation, so I'm torn. I have been for nearly a year. (Any therapy or anything to try and help me cope is not possible while under my mom's roof).
That's where the online thing comes in. Online, I feel that I'm among friends. People who won't judge me because of my checkered past. People who care. I've had more support from online friends than from my own family and the people I know in real life. That speaks volumes, doesn't it?

*I apologize if I took this thread way off course. I've only been to one concert. I don't remember much about it. (I was eight), so I can't comment on the photo/phone policy.