Although I realize that people with Avoidant PD issues and people who tend to be passive or have fear of rejection situations, will NOT like what I'm going to say here, I'm going to gently try and give my view on this.
First, I once spent 3.5 YEARS on the internet from 4 in the morning till 4 in the morning, only stopping to grab food or use the restroom. Why? Cause I had an extreme case of Codependency and had a need to be needed. I was counseling a lady online at the time, but that BECAME MY LIFE...the INTERNET, the PHONE. When that relationship ended, in walked N and THAT, TOO ended up keeping me online and on the phone way too many hours.
Here is my theory...ONLINE (as in, "chat" rooms or even some private messages), unless you have met (face to face) the person you are talking to or plan to...OFTEN equals UNREALITY and HIDING, either on your part or the part of the person you are talking to.
My suggestion is, please go back to school, go to an in-person counselor, make some friends, find a hobby OFFLINE, journal, apply for a job, volunteer, do ANYTHING but spend your life in the unrealistic world of CYBERSPACE. Wean yourself off, by replacing little increments of online time with REALITY actions.
Doing this, saved my marriage, my relationship with my children...my sanity and my life!
If you do tend to be avoidant and hesitant to venture into new things, I highly encourage you to talk to someone about that...please please please do NOT go looking for help on the internet...there are soooooooooo many N's and dysfunctional people out there, just sooooooooo able to smell their next easy victim a mile away. If you have been victimized before, you are easy prey and predators are on the lookout for you, because they can TELL that you are VULNERABLE. Please, be safe. Make healthy choices and limit your online time to research, chat with people you have met or will meet in person who are safe and like-minded and sane-minded.
Realize that being behind a screen, means just THAT...many internet people are HIDING and staying INCOGNITO FOR A REASON!!! You do NOT always want to FIND OUT WHAT THAT REASON IS, by being the one on the receiving end!
Just a suggestion but an urgent one, from one who lived the nightmare.
~Laura