social anxiety and facebook?

[Laci]

Hi,
I'm a senior in high school and I suffer from social anxiety. I've had a hard time making and keeping friends for years but one of the things I'm struggling with right now is facebook. I have a hard time updating my wall and getting wall posts, and I rarely post on people's walls besides "happy birthday!" sometimes. I am having a hard time wanting to keep my fb activated, because I feel like I look like a loser with no life or friends. I am rarely tagged in photos and I rarely update my profile picture because I have so much anxiety of no one liking it. I feel like people are popular based on their number of likes on their profile pictures on facebook so I feel unpopular and disliked. On other social networks like twitter, instagram and tumblr I don't care as much because it's more private and less competitive. I am having a lot of anxiety worrying about what people think of me when they see my facebook, but at the same time I don't want to deactivate it because I did that once and I felt even more isolated and alone, away from the "social world". I don't know what to do, any advice or stories where you can relate? Thank you!!

[abraXus]

facebook isnt a competition, people just try to make it that way

just ignore the social stigma surrounding facebook, and you will be fine

you arent more popular in real life just because you get a lot of likes on facebook - that's just a silly notion

[Emily]

Don't feel pressure to post or anything. I have facebook it keeps me from loosing touch with certain people but I rarely write an actual post never on some one else's wall unless I happen to have something signifigant to share (rarely lol) but keep in mind what you see on facebook is not people's everyday life it's the highlight reel, even if they are having a rough time that's not what they're putting on facebook. Plus people who get all those likes often have an army of strangers on their friends list. And remember if you feel like things are bad now I swear on my life they will get better. I'm in highschool to and people in highschool kinda suck you just need a couple good ones that'll stick around