I feel like the older I get the lonelier I get

I just feel that people don't like being around me and I really don't understand why. I am slightly quiet in the beginning but try my best to socialise. In Secondary school I had a fairly large friend group and always got on with everyone but there were always the handful of people that felt threatened by me for some reason. Im in 2nd year of college atm and the whole experience hasn't been great. My best friend doesn't attend this college and neither do any of my mutuals. So in year 12 I really did try my best to socialise but it never seemed to work out. Id always notice death stares from girls if I talk to any guys which made me avoid talking to them. In maths in the first year, I sat in-between these two students and they'd always talk to each other but when I tried to join in their conversation I always seemed to get aired. I did end up making a friend group in year 12 and then I introduced one of my other friends to the friend group. Later on they started to exclude me from their outings. I really don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I think at this point though ive given up on trying to make friends and now everyone seems to think of me as the antisocial student? I genuinely tried to make friends in the first year. Now I just watch Netflix during my lunch and break and its honestly depressing.

Maybe you're just yet to meet your people. It's naturally from friendship groups to change and dwindle out over time. In secondary school I had a bunch of friends, I moved on to 6th form and that probably dropped to a group of about 20 of us. A lot of the others either went to different schools/colleges or they formed new friendship groups. I'm now in my first year of university and there's only around 5 of us who have regular contact. Not having many friends isn't the end of the world. You'll make some and you'll be all good, don't worry. Use this time to learn to become independent and love yourself. If nobody wants to make an effort with you then you shouldn't make an effort with them. Focus on yourself and your school work, trust me.

I finished college now a little while back (I just turned 20) but I was in the same boat really. My best friend and all of my close friends all went to different places and in my second year I was pretty much on my own. Lunch was pretty depressing and I’d do my best to not be obviously on my own.

It bothered me for a bit but then I guess I kind of shook my outlook on it - my good friends I saw after college most days so I didn’t miss out on having friends. I basically accepted college as just a place to get education and nothing more, next month you’ll break up for Christmas and then you’ll only have a few months until you’re done.

Don’t let it get you down!

Thankfully a lot of my school friends went to my college, but I didn’t really make any new ones - I’d be friendly with people in class, but it never really went anywhere outside that. I’m in my second year of uni now though and I’ve got an entirely new group, plus the old one, so give it time and I’m sure you’ll be fine

year 12 for me was utterly lonely... i only had 1 friend that stuck with me and we weren't close til year 13. it's probably bc i was not confident yet but as i made more friends it all became easier. i think i lost all my confidence during that year.
kinda seems like a thing with luck for me. year 13 turned out good, somehow i managed to get involved in this group and i had a really fun time, and it made my whole experience enjoyable. i'm still friends with them today.
my foundation year was surprisingly good bc i had no one i knew to go off on, and ended up with a good secure group. but then the degree acc started, i changed unis and it's been lonely again lol. for some reason i'm not as depressed as i was in year 12, but it's my 2nd year now and i've only made 1 secure friend. utter crap lol...

I find that you make secure friends in classes more than anything else. just be sociable and find some free periods you both have and ask to hang out. that's how I did it in sixth form (although bc I had no confidence they asked instead LMAO)