To want to just avoid people as much as I can until I die now

I think that particular poster, and many others on this thread, have far more of an idea of what is normal than you do. As for calling others aggressive!!!! Most of us are thanking our lucky stars that we will never encounter you in real life. Must dash, off for a walk soon to see how many people I can talk to - normal people that is btw. Thank goodness the majority of people in real life don't share your attitude. You seem to have this notion that you are somehow more cool and clever than the rest of us - sorry to burst your bubble, but you really, really, aren't. You come across as a petulant child, one best avoided at all costs.

You really didn't need to come on MN to express your wish to not have to interact with others, I'm sure people are more than happy to give you a wide berth.

I think it depends. If you were to withdraw completely into isolation, like a hermit, then yes, you would be sad and struggle but if you already have a support network then you don’t really need to keep meeting new people no matter how nice they may be.

In Japan, there are companies who help people disappear.

"So-called 'night moving' companies help peoole disappear without a trace and start a new life somewhere else"

Maybe there's similar services in the UK.

What a dickish response! People really aren't hard work. Some of them can be difficult, but there are ways of dealing with them. You are simply unpleasant, and given your responses to others on here it is quite obvious that it is YOU who is hard work, and anyone who has to interact with you in real life has my sympathy. I'm sure the people who you don't want to have in your life are the winners here.

You are part of the problem

You live however you like. I'd personally be very miserable without good friends, people I can rely on and have a laugh with but if you can live without that crack on.

OP I sympathise, lockdown did it for me and I prefer reading or gardening alone.

I had cancer 20 years ago, I got through the 3 years alone largely.

Three people really came through for me, a school friend from at school at 7 to 16 years old. She came over every week once or twice, and an ex who came over every day for the first 6 weeks to cook me an omelette. It's all I could stomach.

I love people, my work involved meeting people. But I love being alone, to recharge my batteries.

It's what you like!

In my mid 50s and I feel like this all the time, apart from dh and dc, and 3 close friends, I really don't want to interact with anyone ever again. I felt like this before lockdown, but never did it, when lockdown forced the issue, I loved it, but df died in lockdown, I was greiving too, so I don't think that helped, but I'm with you op, totally!!! X

I'm retired now but spent almost 50 years in a customer facing role dealing with members of the public. I never hated the public during any of those years (I only fully retired this year). However, I have encountered some people who shouldn't be in customer service roles at all as they seem to have no clue about what it involves. What is stopping you getting a job where you don't have to interact with the public if you find it so difficult?

I mean, I thrived in lockdown and love wfh - would describe myself as a fairly hardcore introvert. But I went out for a meal yesterday and had a brief but v pleasant chat with the elderly lady sat next to me. She didn’t seem like a dick. And the taxi driver made me laugh on the way home, he didn’t seem like a dick.
much as I object to relentless and forced social interaction and have opted out of much of it I really don’t recognise the world you describe op. I’m sorry for you that you find it all so hard.

Early 1980's were so different.
I would love to go back to that era.

There was Thatcher, but health service was still reasonable, and far less people and cars on the road, even in London.

What is massive now is how people in cafés or at playgrounds or elsewhere are transfixed by their phones.

In the past, everyone had newspapers, but no longer, one hardly ever sees people reading papers in the train or bus any more.
{Metro apart, but that is a comic}

It wasn’t that fantastic. You just know all the bad stuff faster these days. And you had to interact more face to face in 1982 as no internet so it was better as an old person then.

We still had war … and Thatcher,
Was it more dangerous then or now? Really? No CCTV for example so crime far less traceable.

I do think now I’m older I have very little tolerance for rude, obnoxious, thoughtless people and I do feel sorry for teachers etc who deal with kids never off social media. Good manners are thin in the ground since Covid I feel.

So true!
As a teenager, I had a squat in the East End- a condemned house owned by the GLC.

It was meant to be demolished.

I lived in one room in the house, a front room with wooden shutters {Original}
Loved the house, it was like a time warp, people had left loads of old stuff inside it from 1880's onwards.

There was so much more 'community' then.

I googled the house {168, Swaton Road, London E3} and instead of being demolished, it had been refurbished {the cracked retaining wall rebuilt}
and the price! £720,000 in 2021
Pic is of the front room- {Rightmove} it had dark wood window shutters {now painted} when I lived there, but loved that room!

Lived there for free as did many on the road - it was famous for squats back then. Council owned bomb damaged houses.
Richmond upon Thames had squats too- and Notting Hill had loads!

That's fine but the OP has gone way beyond this to out and out hating people. It's one thing to not want to go out all the time, it's another to shut yourself off.

Heck I just want to meet new people and travel the world until I pop my clogs - and shall be wearing purple 😃

No! Just prioritise those you like as interacting is so beneficial. I used to think I couldn't meet any more nicer people than I had but it keeps happening, so many wonderful people out there to make a positive impact. Yes there are a lot of arseholes, you don't have to be their friend, acknowledge they're awful, not part of your life.

Withdrawing from life, one will become so intolerant, insular and basically sad? I do feel I would like to just have some time to just be on my own, retreat from the world, not possible due to family and work. If I get the odd day I can do this I love it but look forward to companionship and grounding.

I get you, so much conflict, cruelty, harshness in the world. We all feel the powerlessness of it all, even the stupid shallow trends and shallow aspirations.

But we do need to have friends and mutual affections, which aren't the same hovelled up in a bubble online.

I understand if very introverted etc but there is a whole world out there to explore, have experiences with, explore and learn from.

But you are engaging with people just by being on the internet….😉

It's funny cause the people agreeing with her are people OP would look at with contempt if she passed them on the street.

The irony is lost on the OP. Too angry with everyone who breathes to see the hilarious irony of their posts, and how disingenuous they're being!

The only people whose company I actually enjoy are my grandsons, all under 8 years old. And I really love my dog.

But you are engaging with people just by being on the internet….😉

I’ve recently had this discussion with DH venting on about something he heard on the radio. I reminded him he brought this through our gate, it wasn’t here before he heard it on the radio so leave it off if it angered him so much.

@oakleaffy

Having a few good friends is better than wildly socialising.

Maybe. That’s all fine and that’s how I prefer to roll but it’s not really the point.

People on here who self identify as “introverts” often posit the idea that everyone else is out six nights a week getting shitfaced in bars, dancing on tables etc.

No one is suggesting that: I’m certainly not. It’s more just being open to people as opposed to assuming they are all bastards, as the OP apparently does.

I have friends- but just wouldn't want to live with anyone else again in the same house.
Have seen two friends {Human!} today.

OP, I wish I didn’t feel the same, but I do. I feel comforted by this thread - that I’m not alone.

I just don’t enjoy the company of many people anymore. I work from home now, and honestly, my life is much less stressful. That said, I feel really sad for my lack of community. Growing up in the 80s, we had lovely neighbours. We had parties for big birthdays. The kids all played together. We wanted to be with each other and have a good time. Now we only want to go on a city break and take pics for insta. PR ourselves to no end.

When Brexit happened, I just felt shocked by the outward hatred shown in plain sight. So many people outing their opinions, naively thinking they are in the company of people who agree with them. There was just so many. Then all of the bullshit Governments, Trump. Trillionaire money hoarders. The far-right protests. The wars and the people supporting them.

Then the cost of things… A college degree is as an expected as a GCSE these days. It’s £800k for a 2-bed terrace in Hackney. You need to be a millionaire now to have the same living standard as a 80s street sweeper. Yet so many people just buying stupid crap.

I just don’t want to know about it anymore.