Does anybody else frequently fall into the trap of thinking people don't like them if they don't engage with your social media posts?

[Moon Flower]

I always notice when my engagement is down or when someone unfriends me and I'm like "Oh great, someone else thinks I'm horrible, I should stop posting altogether". I KNOW I shouldn't think that way but I can't help it sometimes.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

I do not use social media, other than for propaganda purposes.

 

[Moon Flower]

I do not use social media, other than for propaganda purposes.

Honestly it's probably better that way, it's a ton of undue stress. I might have to follow your example

 

[stygal]

Yes, I can relate. I'm a have a lot of doubts about myself in general. So I can not really understand why people engage with me in the first place. And sometimes I find somebody who I have a connection with and weirdly get ghosted (another online friend recently) and I am just like: fuck it, I'm keeping my "mouth shut"/ not posting anymore...nothing won't ever come off it anyways. And I'm not even sad/angry if someone tells me they don't like me/don't want to talk anymore but just ignoring me makes me feel so confused inside. :(

 

[botanormal]

I would feel that way all the time when I used social media in the past! Eventually, I got sick of worrying about it, and just stopped using it. It's completely understandable why you feel like that, I think social media is designed specifically in that way to keep you hooked on it. The people not engaging with your posts probably don't even think anything of it, so although it's tough, try not to let it bother you too much. It has nothing to do with you, it's just a bunch of annoying algorithms that will sometimes screw you over. Although sometimes it's hard to not let it bother you, just know that nobody thinks you're horrible, they probably just missed your post.

 

[Moon Flower]

Yes, I can relate. I'm a have a lot of doubts about myself in general. So I can not really understand why people engage with me in the first place. And sometimes I find somebody who I have a connection with and weirdly get ghosted (another online friend recently) and I am just like: fuck it, I'm keeping my "mouth shut"/ not posting anymore...nothing won't ever come off it anyways. And I'm not even sad/angry if someone tells me they don't like me/don't want to talk anymore but just ignoring me makes me feel so confused inside. :(

Oh my god I know what you mean, I have a close friend who goes ghost FREQUENTLY and then will show up months later like nothing happened. It's like the least you could do is just say you'll be busy. Silence is the worst enemy of anxious people

 

[Wisdom3_1-9]

I used to feel this a lot. I did a near complete social media purge about 16 months ago. On one level, it feels good not to have to worry about such things anymore, but on another level, I really miss the validation of responses. It made me feel like my voice was heard. Now I have no idea if anyone cares.

 

[Gromit-CTB]

All but one of my friends have gone either in "happy life" (good luck with that) or ctb (most this way) gave up worrying about people leaving in any sense. Just happy they are where they want to be. Now just to get me to where I want to be, of this rock.

 

[Good4Nothing]

I gave up all social media 7 or 8 years ago for that very reason. I was so excited to reconnect with childhood friends, but they didn't seem to give a shit.

 

[oneanonymous]

Oh my god I know what you mean, I have a close friend who goes ghost FREQUENTLY and then will show up months later like nothing happened. It's like the least you could do is just say you'll be busy. Silence is the worst enemy of anxious people

Anxiety is the reason I ghost people sometimes and I hate myself for it, because people don't get it. When my anxiety is bad, I just can't get on social media or read texts. I just can't. It's one of the reasons I want to kill myself.

 

[lobster salad]

Well yes. Every time someone ignores me or unfriends me I feel horrible. Recently someone has been disliking all my posts on yt. Kinda tired of trying now. I also get ghosted all the time by my closest friends or one word responses only, then I complain, but find myself ghosting them back because I'm a horrible hypocrite. In the end, I just feel so lonely. No one loves or wants to talk to me once they know me. It's only before they know me that they want to chat, but I don't because I'm tired of making new friendships, I'd rather fix the old ones... even though sometimes that doesn't work out. It's a strange feeling, I don't want to be lonely yet I deserve to be because I never take the initiative to make friends.

 

[deadbeat]

Yeah, that's one of the reasons I don't post on social media anymore and haven't for years.

 

[Konjac]

Yeah, pretty much the main reason I've dropped off of most social media. Every now and then I pop up on IG to start posting my art, but I always freak out and quit for the same reason after a few weeks aha

 

[LastFlowers]

I always notice when my engagement is down or when someone unfriends me and I'm like "Oh great, someone else thinks I'm horrible, I should stop posting altogether". I KNOW I shouldn't think that way but I can't help it sometimes.

Tbh I wish everyone would stop posting altogether. I don't have social media of that nature and I can't stand most of the people on there, I think the ones who get the least engagement on their posts and pictures are usually lower key and less annoying if that makes you feel any better lol. Ofcourse there are certainly superficial reasons why some get likes more than others and it doesn't make the people who receive less feel very good. It's really not that much different from everyday life unfortunately, it's just not in terms of reactive emojis and comments/followers.

 

[muffin222]

I don't use any social media, partly for that precise reason. Social media is a trigger for me

 

[Buffy5120]

I do not use social media, other than for propaganda purposes.

Same