We are all different and live our lives different, at least slightly. And we do not all settle in the same kind of places. Some settles in more rural areas, where interaction with other foreigners is limited — even just meet someone. And socializing with the locals is a question of both speaking their language well enough for just a small talk; and furthermore, our interests might not be shared. Internet and SoMe is a cool invention that makes us keep contact with others — not to forget easily keep contacts with family and friends in our home country, where before, a letter and a month or more waiting for a reply, was the only possibility; apart from rare and expensive short telephone calls. Internet also gives us an excellent opportunity to follow news and other necessary stuff — ASEAN NOW is great for an good view in English of what is happening in Thailand, and also for keeping us up-to-date about visa-rules and extension of our stays — and if we wish to learn something new, so our brain is not rotting, we have plenty of choices online; even when living in the back of an Isaan rice field or other remote places, like on a smal island. Some of us are also more introvert and don't like to mingle too much with strangers. It's much more polite just to scroll by a post with an opinion you don't agree in — or not clicking into a thread of no interest — than being impolite and walk away from someone you are not interested in meeting in a pub or other places, where foreign Westerners asemble. When I'm out in the pulsating nightlife, I enjoy the atmosphere, but am not interested in small talk with strangers — just leave me alone, then I'm extremely happy, this is my style of life...🥳 Yes, to "touch some grass" is good, but you can easily do it by just walk bare feet on also earth or sand — yes, I do that every day and feel an excellent "ground connection" — and still keep your mind running. Not all of us need to meet and talk to someone — actually it can be a pleasant relief not to, and just keeping the "touch some grass" in the more physical sentence... So, if you OP feel that too many postings and threads in the forums here — or other online sites — are "trolling on one extreme and on the other attempting to censor what they dont want to see", I presume that you are most welcome to scroll on; or even better, get out and touch some grass like me, when I finish writing this comment, which nobody else is interested in, but I happily got my POV out anyway...😊
