Maybe, perhaps, she is an only child? Just some thoughts, when I was older I had penpals, for face to face interactions with people can be demanding and energy-consuming, but even a very introvert child did have social needs. So hidden behind an envelope, contact on my own term, seems to me like a good middle ground. I can also ignore them when I didn’t want to reply. I quite enjoyed the level of control that I had. But that was when I learned to write, and it’s not social media. The thought is, maybe there are some indirect ways that she can make friends.

The childhood me would stay at home all day, to the point adults gave me nicknames. I don’t know about your child, but when I was five, I enjoyed fiddle with/take apart things, watch insects or watch nature in general, and hiding in a corner imaging a world.

This reminds me of my childhood, where adults always tried to push you to social more. For them, a little child only wants to do things on their own has a problem. This need to be fixed. They always remind you of that.

For me, at kindergarten, I didn’t have a problem for playing alone. Annoying kids didn’t trouble me. It was the teachers that gave me trouble, for they always wanted to push me to social with others, even though I had a friend, for them that’s not enough. Sometimes I didn’t want to go there, because the first thing they wanted you to do, was to team with other children.

Late until school, I finally realized that it was those adults that wanted you to be sunshine and outgoing, to always expressing and talking, to smile more, to have lots of friends, otherwise you have a problem, are the ones who didn’t understand what introverts are. I’m not even autistic.

This, and adults can enjoy it too.