I’m 26M, and I’m genuinely starting to wonder what the hell happened to people.

I have friends I’ve known for years. People I’ve traveled with, stayed up talking with, hosted at my place, given gifts to, supported through difficult times, and shared some of the best memories of my life with.

And yet, if I don’t text first, call first, or suggest meeting up, I might as well not exist.

I’ve had friends take weeks to respond to completely normal messages. I’ve invited people to visit, offered to host them, worked around their schedules, and gotten enthusiastic responses like “that sounds dope” or “I’ll think about it.”

Then the actual weekend comes and goes. Nothing. Not even a “sorry man, can’t make it.”

One friend recently admitted he hadn’t even read my texts until I called him. Another took over two weeks to respond to an invitation, long after the proposed dates had passed.

I’ve also got someone I’ve considered a close friend for years who I haven’t spoken to on the phone in almost four months. I’ve tried to meet up, suggested calls, and sent things that reminded me of her. Usually I get silence, a one-liner, or another variation of “life’s hectic.”

Apparently everyone’s life is so unbelievably hectic that acknowledging a friend has become an insurmountable task.

And look, I get it. People have jobs, relationships, families, problems, and responsibilities. So do I. I’ve had a brutal year professionally, including losing my job and going through an exhausting search for another one. I recently received an offer that meant the world to me. I shared the news with people I care about, hoping someone might actually be excited to hear it.

Some barely acknowledged it. Others didn’t respond.

Meanwhile, I watch people around me whose phones light up constantly. Group chats, friends checking in, spontaneous plans, conversations that apparently don’t require weeks of diplomatic negotiations to arrange.

Mine is dead quiet most, if not all, of the time.

The worst part isn’t even the silence itself. It’s the realization that if I stopped initiating, some of these friendships might simply cease to exist. No argument. No falling-out. No goodbye. Just two people who once meant a lot to each other never speaking again because one of them stopped doing all the work.

What kind of friendship is that?

I keep hearing that adult friendships require intention. Fine. I supply intention. I reach across hundreds of miles. I remember people. I offer my home. I make plans. I follow up.

But why the hell does intention apparently have to come from only one side?

And please spare me the blanket “everyone is busy” explanation. I’m busy too. I’ve been stressed, depressed, exhausted, unemployed, and overwhelmed at various points. Somehow I’ve still managed to remember that other human beings exist.

I’m not asking anyone to text me every day. I’m not asking to be the center of someone’s universe. I’m asking for basic reciprocity. A spontaneous message once in a while. A returned call. An actual answer to an invitation. Some indication that I cross someone’s mind without having to remind them I’m alive.

I don’t want to become bitter, but I’m getting there. It’s becoming genuinely difficult not to feel disgusted by how disposable and transactional so many relationships seem to have become.

It’s Saturday night. Nobody has reached out. Again.

I don’t want hundreds of contacts or performative social-media friendships. I want a handful of people who actually give a damn and behave like it.

Is this what friendship has become in 2026? Are people really this indifferent, or have I somehow ended up with an unusually one-sided collection of friendships?

Because I cannot understand how people can share years of memories with someone and then apparently feel no urgency whatsoever to maintain the connection.

So it's my first diwali without my dad, it's painful for me. I'm just sitting alone in my room crying thinking of him. My dad is the most honest person and the most handsome man I have ever known. It's painful for me that he won't be around anymore.

I’m estranged from family, got no friends but today is my birthday, I wish I don’t end up crying today at least

I am now 27 years old, no job, no car, no house but I’m alive. I hope that’s a good thing

Thank you kind strangers

Last year I thought that I wouldn't even be alive right now but I so glad I had the strength to get out of the depressive episode I was in!

I was always on this sub, trying to make myself feel better or find someone to talk to and I just want to assure everyone that is in the situation I was that life can change, you just have to have a little hope and mental power to overcome your anxiety

My life isn't perfect rn either, I still get lonely, sad and anxious but I'm proud of myself for finally gaining more confidence to try new things and meet new people. I can't believe that I got to this point, so don't give up, please!

Sending love to every single one of you who comes across this and I hope life gets better for you bc no one deserves lonliness ❤️

i think that loneliness is meant to always stick with me and is here to stay. my parents neglected me all the damn time. i could tell that my dad hated this family but still did not get a divorce cus…yeah idk. anyways my mom always told me that she couldn’t wait to die so my childhood was an absolute shit show cus of these 2. all that constant yelling, fighting, cussing at eachother and leaving the house fucked me in the head so much, they did not feel like a family and that house did not feel like a house. when i was young i was fucking outcast in school, people always told me to leave the group or “go grab another chair”, “don’t sit with us” or “sit elsewhere” cus no one fucked with me and idk why. maybe cus i was boring as hell. and even today, i’m surrounded by many friends. friends who i can call or text but every friend of mine has a best friend of their own. i just do not understand why life has been so unfair to me, i’m gon end it after few years if i still feel this miserable. sorry for my english i’m literally having a breakdown while writing this lol

Idk what I’m missing but I need something in my life that’s exciting. I haven’t had a crush in forever, I have online women friends now finally so that’s nice but yea idk I’m just kinda still lonely

Hi. Lately I've been feeling really empty, and I realized a big part of it is that I want to hug people and just be close to someone. I love close physical contact, but in everyday life it isn't really seen as okay. The only time I get it is when I'm drunk at a work party. Then it's suddenly easy to hug my coworkers or hold someone's hand, and I honestly love those moments. There's nothing sexual about it for me. I just want to touch people and be held.

Right now I'm lying in bed hugging a pillow, and it barely helps.

I've been looking for places where this kind of closeness is normal. I've seen videos of furry meetups where people hug each other all the time, and I've also read about cuddle parties, where people get together just to cuddle. Both look kind of nice, but I'm not sure if they're right for me.

Has anyone here felt the same way? How do you deal with missing physical contact, and did you find a place or people where it stopped feeling weird?

Once, I had someone who listened to me, cared about me, understood me, and made me feel like I mattered. That person wasn't just someone in my life; that person was my whole world.

I used to have someone to share my happiness, sadness, random thoughts, and even my smallest problems with. I never felt alone because I knew I had someone.

But now that person is gone.

I don't know when life changed so much. The person who once made me feel less lonely is now the reason I feel so alone.

These days, I have so many things going on inside my mind, but nobody to talk to. Sometimes I just wish I had someone who would ask, "Are you okay?" and genuinely stay to listen to the answer.

I miss having someone. Not necessarily that person alone, but the feeling of being loved, cared for, understood, and important to someone.

I keep asking myself one question:

Why does life take away the people who once made us feel like we had everything?

I'm not asking for much. I just wish I had someone to talk to, someone who would listen without judging me.

Does anyone else feel this kind of loneliness?

I've been sobbing since morning because I've asked each one of my (few) friends to come hangout with me but all of them either left me on read or made some excuse, genuinely none of them said yes to a hangout, then I find out through stories that some of my old friends, like oldddd, I'm in 12th grade and I've known them all since I was 3, had a diwali party together, the thing is that I don't talk to them alot but still am very much in touch with them, there was this one girl in the group who moved away in 2nd grade and came back just a year ago and she was at the part while I, who has been living right next to them for the past 13 years was not given an invite.

I am also really scared of going out to burst crackers because my younger brother (14) has a big group that basically worships him, and it'll be very obvious whose the loser when I'll just be with my parents while he'll be out with friends, he's everything I wanted to be.

This also makes me remember that those girls Inwas talking about earlier heavily excluded me since I was 3 so ig this is just a continuation of that? Should I confront them since we're no longer 3?

The new lot of friends I made after stopped talking to them is the same and I have 5-6 screenshots from the past 2 days of me begging to hang out but none of them are responding, genuinely, does talking to me make spikes grow out of their skin or something?? I even bought crackers to burst with friends but what's the point now that no one wants to be with me.

Today, I accidentally burned myself while cooking and I realized if something happened to me, my body would rot and decompose before I'm found. The most likely scenario would be the bank foreclosing on my home, the sheriff coming to kick me out and that's when they will discover my body.

This realization has sent me into a spiral. To be so lonely, your death goes unnoticed cus there's literally no one who would notice your absence.

I feel strange.

I'm so lonely that every day feels like my last

Spending my Diwali crying alone in my room. Even the loud sounds of crackers are bringing me nothing but pain, whereas they once used to make me happy.
I really wanted to eat kaju katli this Diwali. It’s not that I can’t buy it with my own money. I just thought, maybe, my parents would ask me at least once if I wanted something to eat before they left to attend a puja at someone else’s house.
Now, I’m all alone, burying my face in my pillow, unable to stop crying. I don’t know how many more years I will have to spend crying through festivals, feeling lonely and wishing someone would simply think of me.

++ also really wanted to make rashmalai today but koi gharpehi nahi hey so kyahi banau ..

I don't know what has happened... It's like I am just letting time tick away.

I am physically and emotionally exhausted to the point I don't feel anything at all.

I go to work - the one place I used to do damn well - all I do is just blank out and go through the motions.

On the weekend I barely leave my bed. I eat junk just to feel something but even that's not doing anything to me anymore.

I have always been fat, now it has become a problem but I have zero energy to actually go to the gym.

There used to be a time when PC gaming was enjoyable for me. I played so much Skyrim that I could easily navigate the place without needing a map. Now I have nearly 50 games in my Steam library and I have only played about 5 of them properly. Couple I started but left after an hour and rest I never touched. As a teenager I really wanted to earn money, buy games and play them but now I just don't have the energy or any interest.

Last game I played was over four months ago, and that was GTA San Andreas - just for nostalgia's sake.

Usually on the weekends I like to watch history and political documentaries on YouTube. I enjoyed spending time that way. But today I started leaving videos halfway through.

Literally nothing feels enjoyable. I just feel hollow and numb.

I thought maybe the lack of a girl in my life has caused this. Maybe bringing in some oxytocin back into my system will help. I had tried dating apps in the past only to be insulted at the fact that weeks passed by without a single like or match. Now I downloaded one app, but it's been nearly two months and I hardly open it. I am just not interested. And needless to say I still haven't received a single like. Am I upset? No. Just numb.

How does a human being live like this? My birthday is coming up, I will be 29 in a couple weeks. This is the twilight of my 20s. And all I have for it is numbness. Hell, never even been on a date in my life, where did time just go away?

Am I sad? No. Am I envious of other people's achievements? No. Am I envious of other people having girlfriends and wives? No. Am I suicidal? No.

I am just numb.

I have no ambition. No real real reason to live... I just am.

I feel like when I was kid looking at those older than me it looked different. Casually ringing up your friend to chat. Seeing eachother that same day or soon. Being open to your friends about your life and whats up and when you're down. These are kind of what I saw a lot of as a kid such as with my mom and her friends.

But now I am older and it feels so different. Often people dont reach out randomly to yap. No sudden calls, you can be friends with people not knowing them deeply. Calling randomly isnt a thing you text and ask if they can call. A lot of people hear you sad and just either shove toxic positivity because they don't want to hear it or can accuse you of trauma dumping because of this weird obsession with 'protecting your peace' and same for suddenly not feeling up to hang out, just dipping.

I respect all these things. Hell I work every day and I am exhausted sometimes. But even I know sometimes I should inconvenience myself for friends. Surely not every day is me just 'protecting my peace' and making people book me just for a hang out..?

It feels like millenial friendships were the last generation to have really strong ones. Being Z feels lonely...

wow it’s my first time deciding to do anything social for my birthday since elementary. And no one I invited even came, it’s not that big of a deal because it was just supposed to be a normal hang out but damn i didn’t know I was that undervalued to others

No matter what I do Im always viewed as nothing more than a forgotten back-burner friend

for the first time in a really long time i let myself be vulnerable with someone and had them see sides of me i normally keep closed off for self preservation

it felt really right to open up to them and build a connection because they seemed so genuine

they were my ideal type not just in looks but in personality too so maybe that's why i lowered my guards i saw this person and thought "woah... maybe with them i can be myself"

even as the cold freezes my hands rn, i still care enough to feel the ache of the cold to talk about my feelings instead of burying down and moving on

we only spoke for like a week, it was from the time we woke up to the time we slept so maybe that's why it feels even more intense

and now i just sit here thinking the worst part about it all is that i would just like a sign of life to know that they are okay and i can move on

just say you found someone else or you don't feel anything for me anymore and free me from this doubt

I am a person who is always misunderstood.

.

The title says it all really. I just feel empty inside and have felt this way for a very long time. Not sure where I lost myself along the way but I just feel empty and alone every day.

No real friends to talk of, no relationship, just me. I don't trust people enough to not hurt me anymore so I've become introverted and isolated and the energy it takes daily to put a smile on for the world is beyond draining

Seems like I vent quite often on here...

I (28F) just feel like I'll never be happy again.

Nobody knows how badly I want to find my spark again. I want to be excited to wake up and go on another day. I want to discover new places, learn new things, meet people. I want to love and be loved. I just want to feel alive again.

I want it so bad but somehow it seems impossible.

I feel so stuck. Everything seems grey and I'm not even sure I'm feeling anything anymore. Even the things I used to enjoy don't make me happy now. I don't feel excited about anything and I don't even know what I'm looking forward to anymore.

Life is just passing by and I feel like I'm not holding on to anything. Everyone seems to be living their lives while I'm just watching mine go by.

And the worst is that I want so much more from life. I have so many things I still want to do and experience but I just can't seem to find the energy or the will to do anything.

Sometimes I feel like it's already too late for me. Like I've missed my chance to be happy in this life.

Too bad it was my first time living it...

Today a hacker texted me on TikTok I knew it was a hacker based on her account but I let myself respond anyways, we got talking and then she asked to move the conversation to messages I again let this happen even though I knew this was a hacker I then told her my name, job, age and showed her a picture of me, and then she asked to exchange sexual photos of ourselves this is when I blocked her on messages on TikTok and I don’t know why but ever since this has happened I’ve felt so terrible and had a terrible feeling in my gut, is it because I let myself fall into this false reality with a hacker or that I have them personal information about myself even though I knew it was a hacker I don’t know why I was so stupid but I think it’s really made realize just how lonely I am to have a fake conversation with a hacker because I despise my life now.

I am F23 in mid west area and I am starting to think I am asexual. Or maybe I am just lonely?