Hey everyone, I’m a 21 year old Gen-Z guy and I was wondering if there are any good positive spaces online to socialize.
Because I’m pretty lonely and I feel like the majority of internet places is negative, hateful and racist and as a sensitive person that really worsens my depression.
I tried social apps like Clubhouse and Discord but I feel like most people there are very weird and negative. I wonder how is it that most of the internet is like that. Does that actually make these people happy? For me I noticed that there are people with good/positive energy that make me motivated and people with negative energy that take away my energy and motivation. But maybe I’m the only one feeling like this?
I wonder if there are any online spaces or chatrooms that are positive and have good vibes preferably with more people around my age.
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This is a pretty specific recommendation that might not apply to your situation, but if you’re into gaming (at any level), I highly recommend No Man’s Sky and its communities on reddit and Lemmy. The people there are the most welcoming and friendly I’ve ever encountered in the context of gaming, and finding new friends to co-op with is easy. From there, you can get to know people more and chat in non-gaming contexts.
The advice to socialize offline is good and well meaning, but it’s also not what you’re asking.
I’ve found a lot of very positive communities through smaller Twitch streams. I mean like under 50 average viewers tops, usually quite a bit smaller than even that. It’s easy if you like gaming, but there are channels for everything. The nice thing is you can just drop into a channel and lurk for a while to get the vibe, then leave if it’s not the kind of energy you’re looking for.
There are plenty of downsides. Even if it goes well, most of the people you meet will be far away. Parasocial relationships are something to be aware of to make sure you don’t fall into that trap, especially if you’re lonely. Also, there’s good and bad like anywhere else. But, it’s also common to hear people in these spaces express gratitude for the support and friendship they’ve found there that exceeded their expectations.
I don’t want to undersell or oversell it, really. It’s an option that’s easy to try and might work, but be careful like with anything. Making an effort to get out more is good, too, whenever time and energy permit. I don’t think offline and online spaces can replace each other - they each excel at different things. I hope you find your community. Or several.
VRChat saved my sanity during COVID. The public worlds can be a shitshow but you find some cool people and hang with them away from the lunatics. There are also Chill worlds which tend to stay mellow but less social. May be a good start while you figure things out.
Internet people’s favorite thing to do is complain, so get off the internet and go join a club or a social group. Otherwise you’ll be forever doom scrolling through bad news and comments complaining about it.
I mean, people complain in real life too.
