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Facebook was a gift and a curse for introverts. I signed up for Facebook my freshman year of college, 2005. For someone in a new place who wasn't very good soc

Facebook was a gift and a curse for introverts. I signed up for Facebook my freshman year of college, 2005. For someone in a new place who wasn't very good socially, it allowed me to meet all sorts of people at college through chatting online (something I was already very comfortable with thanks to things like AIM and Yahoo messenger). Used to be that you could search for keywords among people at your college, so it was great for meeting people with similar interests. People were much more open online then, be it willingly or just for the fact that having a private account just wasn't an option at the time. But it also became a crutch, and I (and perhaps many others) started to use it as my primary means of meeting and interacting with people. I never did very well developing real world social skills to meet people in person and build up that confidence that college is the perfect environment to foster. Now I'm 30, and also recently moved to a new, unfamiliar place. And while I'm "okay" socially, I feel like had I just shut the damn computer off in college and forced myself to build up that social network in real life, I'd be more comfortable and confident in my abilities to meet cool people in person today.

ConceptJunkie 9y ago
I went college in the 80s, so social networking on the net wasn't a thing. (Well, mostly... I did manage to meet one of my best friends in college chatting on the Vax before I ever met her in person.) I'm definitely an introvert, and not having social networking at that age was probably a good thing for me. I don't feel like I missed anything not having it, but I'm happy to have it now, especially when the people I used to know are scattered very widely geographically.
- iamatworknow 9y ago
  Oh sure. I'm not saying there aren't benefits to having it as an adult, but it was very easy to become overly reliant on the social aspect of the internet like that at a susceptible age, I guess. I think what compounded my issue in particular is that I grew up in a rural area with my own computer/internet connection ever since I was probably 11 or 12 years old. It wasn't like I could drive 15 miles to meet other kids in person, and I didn't have family that would facilitate such a thing, so outside of school hours and until I got my drivers license the internet was all there was for interacting with others my age. Then when college came and more in-person opportunities opened up, I more or less was stuck in that same mindset and squandered them.

ConceptJunkie 9y ago

I went college in the 80s, so social networking on the net wasn't a thing. (Well, mostly... I did manage to meet one of my best friends in college chatting on the Vax before I ever met her in person.) I'm definitely an introvert, and not having social networking at that age was probably a good thing for me. I don't feel like I missed anything not having it, but I'm happy to have it now, especially when the people I used to know are scattered very widely geographically.

iamatworknow 9y ago
Oh sure. I'm not saying there aren't benefits to having it as an adult, but it was very easy to become overly reliant on the social aspect of the internet like that at a susceptible age, I guess. I think what compounded my issue in particular is that I grew up in a rural area with my own computer/internet connection ever since I was probably 11 or 12 years old. It wasn't like I could drive 15 miles to meet other kids in person, and I didn't have family that would facilitate such a thing, so outside of school hours and until I got my drivers license the internet was all there was for interacting with others my age. Then when college came and more in-person opportunities opened up, I more or less was stuck in that same mindset and squandered them.