I really am an old man screaming at clouds, and I am trying to pass on life advice I wish I had learned sooner, as someone who once identified as a sheltered introverted chud, my life and opportunities improved many times over when I put some effort into challenging myself to socialize more and learn how to small-talk properly and make people feel comfortable around me.

It’s wild because there are “influencers” trying to spin this as some kind of jedi mind trick that it takes courses and books and techniques to get good at making people like you, when literally all you have to do is listen and ask a lot of questions. Coworkers, classmates, people at the checkout counter, people who smile at you at the coffee shop, it’s all opportunities to get to know other humans and make connections. Just don’t have an agenda, just learn to actually like people. “I hate people” is a great bumper sticker or meme text, but you can’t internalize that lesson, you will live a lonely life if you can’t find things to appreciate about other human beings. We’re all in this together and nobody gets out alive, the sooner you start learning to “party up” and form groups with random players the better your end-game loot will be.