As someone who has struggled with social anxiety to varying degrees throughout life, online interactions are a bandage for the much larger issue. Communicating

As someone who has struggled with social anxiety to varying degrees throughout life, online interactions are a bandage for the much larger issue. Communicating via text without the pressure of timing (generally) gives you the ability to think over your words and perfect the message. It also allows you to easily avoid and exit conversations you don't want to participate in. This doesn't help you to build some of the skills that are necessary to be social offline. In my experience, social anxiety is being hung-up on all the "what ifs". I want all the information up front, and time to think over the "right" response. That mentality is enabled online. Like everything, balance is key. I do believe that having the ability to communicate so easily online has benefited me socially overall. However, I have the feeling that if we had been as connected as we are today back when I was kid, I wouldn't have been able to reach that balance at the point I did.