The joy of social media
The other day, I wrote about how not everyone will like you when you have ADHD.
Related to that, I’ve found I have a much easier time making friendships online than IRL.
Like a lot of folks with ADHD, my brain moves really fast, and that can often result in me saying things aloud…
- In a way I didn’t intend.
- Without fully thinking through them, so what I said isn’t how I really feel or what I really mean.
- With a tone I wasn’t trying to have.
In short, it’s a lot easier for me to be misunderstood or alienate people during in-person conversation. It’s a lot of work, often with poor outcomes.
Online, I have the opportunity to take a beat before hitting send. I can practice what I want to say, assess if it’s what I really mean, and change it if it’s not.
I generally don’t mask my ADHD, and that’s not what I mean here. I’m more talking about how text-based communication lets my words more closely match my intent, rather than spewing out before I can even process them.
And despite what some people say, online friendships are real friendships!
Some of my closest friendships are with people I’ve either met online first, or only talked to online.
The joy of social media (and the web, generally) is that it’s much easier to find your people than it is in the small, often masked local community of neurodivergent folks.