Do you have really good communication skills and befriend many people really quickly, or are you a really shy person, or maybe someone who is not much interested in talking and is not a people person?
Well, in the context above my communication skills are practically non-existent! I have no friends to speak of, am not particularly interested or motivated in making any - I have a very cynical view of friendship - and I am not what one would call a people person because of this. I don't trust people by default, and I don't give them a chance to earn that trust. There is a very high wall between myself and other people, and a minefield on the other side of that wall. Protecting a castle filled with all sorts of monsters where I sit comfortably on my throne at the center, drinking wine and throwing away the glass when I'm done. But that said, I would like to think that I have very good communication skills. I am polite, relatively approachable, I take an interest in what others have to say, and I'm quite happy to strike up a conversation with people if the opportunity presents itself. It's just conversation, it doesn't have to have any strings attached, or promise of more, or even any meaning, and because of that I'm quite comfortable engaging in it. I know several people by sight if not by name just from talking to them regularly at the bus stop, and if I'm in the mood to jump into a chat online I can do that without feeling too self-conscious. Although it depends on the circumstances, really. As long as it's absolutely clear that the mood is casual and that nothing is expected or asked for, I'm absolutely fine. When people start scrutinising me I tend to retreat behind my walls. I don't find it difficult to have conversations with people generally, I'm just not interested in forming any kind of bond or personal connection. So...make of that what you will, I guess?
I've always been a pretty shy person in my teenage years. It's hard for me to strike up a real conversation with people I don't already know. And this is just compounded by the fact that my communication skills in general have historically been pretty bad, which ties into my paranoia to make it so I just don't want to interact with people who I'm not already friends with. I wish I was a much more friendly and confidant person, but as of now that is not the case.
I'm very shy. It can take me quite a while to warm up to someone enough to really open up. Which is why I have a reputation as a very quite person who barely talks, when people I know well can attest to the fact that I can actually be quite the chatterbox sometimes. And while I'm mostly talking about how i interact with people irl, it extends to online as well. There's a reason that this is the only online community that I'm an active part of and that reason is that this is the only place online where I've been able to get comfortable enough to open up at all.
I have very good communication skills (except when my dyslexia kicks in and words are like a foreign language to me). I can easily form a steady conversation and be very polite. However, talking with people for long periods of time is taxing and I generally need to spend time away from people if I am actively communicating with them. I make this distinction because I really love to listen to others ramble. I never get tired if the other person just talks and I don't have to input. I am not a people person simply because I can't handle more than one person at a time. I like talking and being sociable with people, but I have trouble getting my brain to like it and thus I'm not really out going.
My communication skills are normally solid. I can carry a conversation and strike one up with just about anybody. However, I do not always particularly enjoy this. Some days, I just want to not say a word. In fact, there was a day this month where I did not say a word out loud until almost 10 PM, when I talked to my roommate. Meeting new people is always fun, but I am sometimes just not in the mood for it. My face is such that I always look mad, so sometimes people think I am mad when I'm not, so I suppose my face is not that great at communicating XD
Like many other people on the autistic spectrum, I didn’t pick up on many social skills from other people. Rather, I had to rely on advice from my family or read up on the subject. I think I’m better at holding conversations, but there’s still a lot of progress to be made. I can ramble for too long, struggle with eye contact, and say things that sound normal to me, but odd for others. I find it extremely difficult to initiate and maintain friendships. There are so many unwritten rules about how to find them and how frequently you talk to them. Despite that, I still have four irl friends and two online friends. They're all incredibly understanding about my struggle to stay in touch, and I’m eternally grateful for that. One my biggest regrets is not responding or talking enough to the dozens of people who have tried to talk to me (offline and online). Many of them seemed like great people and I gave them the impression I didn’t want to be social. Imagining all of the great friendships I could have had is disheartening, but I suppose working on my social shortcomings is a way to fix that.
Talking with me should be a certified form of torture, so obviously I have no friends and even if I make them, they don't stay long, a week max if our communication is consistent.
Depends on the scenario I find myself in. Honestly, I seem to make friends easily when it's in a Pokémon/Video game-centric area. Other than that I don't really talk to others because I like to think that I'm very awkward to converse with otherwise.
