Don't lose yourself to the internet
The internet can destroy all potential you ever had
I made an observation a few days ago that there is a large population of people who are online and who should probably be less online. Large swaths of these folks' social lives are dedicated to sitting around on Discord, Twitter or whatever other online platform of choice, chatting with people on the other end who they know nothing about past their avatar, username, and posting styles.
While the internet has its merits, it certainly can entrap people. I'm a nonbinary transfeminine person and I can tell you firsthand that the world can be scary - rather, people in it can be scary. But if I were to allow the fear of a bad interaction govern me, and if I were to then retreat to online communities to feel safer, I would never get anywhere with my life, transition, or sociability. I would never confront that fear and my ability to exist and function as a part of society as a whole would be crippled.
Agoraphobia can wreck a person but I postulate that becoming an online recluse only makes it worse. When someone confronts and experiences what causes their fear, they can win over the fear; but when fear is "treated" with a building-up of walls around the self, or a retreat to safety or comfort, the fear wins. Plus, when we start interacting mainly with avatars and usernames, we allow ourselves to form idealized versions of people who we truly know nothing about. We start to twist and mangle our perception of reality and bend it to something that is not truthful; we replace reality with something warped and selfish.
One of the most unfortunate parts about chronic onlineness is its ability to turn the bullied into bullies themselves. Have you ever seen someone send death threats over something as benign and harmless as a difference in musical preference? I have. It sucks. I think, personally, that there is no moral justification for becoming meaner as a result of trauma, and online spaces can amplify the idea that it is OK, especially if those spaces are full of a crowd with a homogenous craving for revenge against the people who have wronged them. It's easy to fall into these spaces looking for support or comfort and then suddenly become a weird little extremist with no sense.
If you want to get over your fear of the real world, don't just jump into it all at once. Then try to experience things you find difficult or scary. If it's one step at a time, it's one step at a time. Don't just give up and become a Discord mod. The world is so much better with you in it and the internet can turn you into a mean, jingoistic, fearful freak (neg) if you let it. You don't have to let it. Stand up for yourself, because at the end of the day you are the best person for the job.
