I've been trying, and mostly failing miserably, to develop online friendships for a very long time now. I'm an extrovert introvert (introvert hits hard when I exhaust myself), and when I first connect with someone, I do put in a huge effort to be engaging. I've found that in most cases as soon as I start messaging less, the relationship basically starts to die. I'm the engine for all conversation, the initiator.
One thing I've started to realise in the past couple of years is that the majority of people I encounter have a certain idea about how friendship works. Basically that they should only message me when they think they will get a quick reply… Basically pretending like it's a face to face meeting. I really don't get it, because it's not like this with real life friends and family? You drop messages whenever you feel like it, the other person replies as and when they feel like it, and vice versa. When I was younger this was also the norm on messenger apps or with email.
So basically… I'm just trying to understand, am I just meeting the wrong people, or are my social skills completely out of touch?