I mean, there is probably a correlation that tracks, but you also have the intersections of a bunch of groups that are probably lonely on their own. Queer, ASD, Social Anxiety. It feels like as you see longer and longer histories in the fandom, you see less loneliness. There is plenty of interaction on FA, maybe less now than there once was, but certainly more than just image boards like 621. Crossing the hump to start is scary, but once your on the other side, its still scary, just the humps to overcome become smaller.
There are definitely lots of people who found their tightest group of friends in the fandom, true. idk, it can go both ways, maybe people who are lonely irl (like queer or ND folks, or people with anxiety) are more likely to join internet-based fandoms. There are the scary humps that you mention, but (at least in my case) it feels a lot less demanding than irl interactions because I can step back whenever I want, it’s usually a lot slower than irl conversations, and I get to observe before joining a conversation. That makes being active on pawb a lot easier than, say, joining a club irl, even though writing comments with substance is still a little scary.
I mean, there is probably a correlation that tracks, but you also have the intersections of a bunch of groups that are probably lonely on their own. Queer, ASD, Social Anxiety. It feels like as you see longer and longer histories in the fandom, you see less loneliness. There is plenty of interaction on FA, maybe less now than there once was, but certainly more than just image boards like 621. Crossing the hump to start is scary, but once your on the other side, its still scary, just the humps to overcome become smaller.
There are definitely lots of people who found their tightest group of friends in the fandom, true. idk, it can go both ways, maybe people who are lonely irl (like queer or ND folks, or people with anxiety) are more likely to join internet-based fandoms. There are the scary humps that you mention, but (at least in my case) it feels a lot less demanding than irl interactions because I can step back whenever I want, it’s usually a lot slower than irl conversations, and I get to observe before joining a conversation. That makes being active on pawb a lot easier than, say, joining a club irl, even though writing comments with substance is still a little scary.
You mean that?