# Did you/do you still have imaginary friends, despite being an adult/teenager?



## Cal (Sep 29, 2017)

Yeah, just out of curiosity.


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## Skeletalz (Feb 21, 2015)

I have ideals that are somewhat similar to the concept of an imaginary friend. Well, some are friends, some are everything but.


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## Jaune (Jul 11, 2013)

I had imaginary friends as a bored homeschooled kid. I've been rid of them for a while. I don't really need them anymore as I do most of my socialization on the Internet and feel fine talking to myself.


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## Librarylady (Mar 11, 2017)

I have characters (as a writer), though my friends and I treat them almost like real people. We talk about their lives more than our own lives.

...So in many ways, sort of?


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## incision (May 23, 2010)

Haven't and still don't but I had an abundance of siblings and neighborhood/school friends to play with. Wonder if it's not so much type but whether people had siblings/friends to play with?


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## Aluminum Frost (Oct 1, 2017)

I used to have Webkinz when I was little, it was like an imaginary friend I guess but it was tangible so not really.


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## Lady of Clockwork (Dec 14, 2017)

I don't believe there is an imaginary person beside, but I pretend there is. I think that makes sense.

I speak to them internally, but look at them externally, unless I am truly alone ... in which case I talk aloud to them. Really, I'm just talking to myself. I don't make them a cup of tea or serve an extra serving of meals.


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## 481450 (Aug 13, 2017)

No, that would be really sad if I did.


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## clem (Jun 10, 2017)

My online friends are kind of like imaginary friends since they don’t have much of a physical manifestation. 


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## Aelthwyn (Oct 27, 2010)

nope never had imaginary friends, but I do have a special bear that has been my buddy for all my life, I take him with me sometimes when I travel and I talk to him sometimes. Mostly I have story characters I imagine, but I don't think of them as 'friends' in the sense of imagining myself interacting with them or talking to them about my life.


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## lib (Sep 18, 2010)

I had an imaginary friend until I became an atheist at 12.


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## .17485 (Jan 12, 2011)

I see dead celebrities


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## shinedowness (Dec 11, 2017)

I used imaginary "friends" who were characters from public entertainment like Star Wars and such to use them for psychology studying, science studying, and mathematical studying as a child and teenager.


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## Wild (Jul 14, 2014)

I had one when I was a kid, but I don't think I have the imagination to even sustain one for an extended period of time anymore. 

Interesting fact, I was easily one of the most imaginative kids I knew despite being an SP. I invented whole religions and led other kids on cultlike endeavors. :skeleton:


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## photon (Dec 8, 2017)

Yes, Tonberry King, Ramuh, and Onion Knight!


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## The Dude (May 20, 2010)

I never had an imaginary friend, but I had Yellow Bear. I don't have him with me anymore...my mom kept it or it's stored away somewhere. I did the usual championship game winning simulation imagination thing as a kid. Playing basketball and pretending I was taking the game winning shot for example.


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## Sybow (Feb 1, 2016)

No, I don't believe in imaginary things. Wether is god or santa.


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## VinnieBob (Mar 24, 2014)

no
but I do believe in a imaginary all good being who created us in his imageh:
no, wait, if he created us in his image should we not all be invisible too?
maybe our visible friends are not real
or we could be their invisible friends


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## salt (Jun 22, 2015)

i never know what it is like to have imaginary friends

as a kid i didnt have imaginary friends at all, me and my brother would play pretend where im a princess and hes a king for example and our bedroom is a fortress for example, it was fun

i would also treat my stuffed animals as like pets, nothing abnormal here

but no imaginary friends, you just make a person out of thin air and talk to it? sounds like you have family issues, or being haunted or whatever


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## martinkunev (Mar 23, 2017)

Imaginary friends?
This is lame, I have a whole imaginary world xD

I find the concept of "worldbuilding" interesting and amusing. You can learn a lot of things just by thinking of some imaginary world and considering what would realistically happen there. There is a worldbuilding network on stackexchange. I guess it's mostly used by people writing fiction. I find reading some comments there interesting even if I never plan to write any fiction.

Thinking about imaginary things can provide very good ideas. I have come up with some ideas that can be turned into books, movies or games for example.


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## Daiz (Jan 4, 2017)

Sort of? I have imaginary versions of real life people. I have long, continuous conversations with them in my head while never interacting with them IRL. 

It's usually one person at any given time. I find someone cool, idolise an idealised version of them and then mentally go to that fake version for life advice/soul-searching. This can continue well after the actual acquaintance has ended.

I won't vote on the poll though because I suspect this is not what you had in mind.


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## Paulie (Jun 23, 2011)

Wait, you mean they're not real???


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## Strelnikov (Jan 19, 2018)

Daiz said:


> Sort of? I have imaginary versions of real life people. I have long, continuous conversations with them in my head while never interacting with them IRL.
> 
> It's usually one person at any given time. I find someone cool, idolise an idealised version of them and then mentally go to that fake version for life advice/soul-searching. This can continue well after the actual acquaintance has ended.
> 
> I won't vote on the poll though because I suspect this is not what you had in mind.



It's kind of the same for me. Real people, with whom I have real interactions, but also imaginary conversations. There are also multiple imaginary people... The Ni-Fi combination within me really invents all sorts of things when I'm bored. These imaginary interactions only occur when I'm bored.


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## Daiz (Jan 4, 2017)

1nquisitor said:


> It's kind of the same for me. Real people, with whom I have real interactions, but also imaginary conversations. There are also multiple imaginary people... The Ni-Fi combination within me really invents all sorts of things when I'm bored. These imaginary interactions only occur when I'm bored.


Do you do it for entertainment or to figure something out? (Also, omg, it's so good to hear that other people do lol)

I think for me, it's me Fe really needing to talk things through out loud for me to work them out but I have nobody I feel that comfortable spilling my soul to, so I have to do it though imaginary means.

EDIT: Interesting that there are so many more NT types saying yes.


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## Sky_Nova_20 (Sep 10, 2017)

Since I always have the tendency to stay at home, I always tend to talk myself, like I'm talking to someone else. I had imaginary friends before, but I've never really named them for some reason. I even played cards with them, board games, made a lot of debating/discussiond and I even acted as a teacher towards them. I know all of these stuff sounds really crazy, to the point where I believe I'm acting mentally ill. I knew I was alone, but when I was talking out loud, I didn't even know where I'm at. I thought I was somewhere else with the imaginary friends. I also made my "real life" friends at school (like 2 or 3, really) act as imaginary friends at home and discuss things that will happen tomorrow/next tomorrow. After talking to myself so much, I realize why I'm actually doing this and it's pretty crazy/paranoid, if you ask me. I always did this ever since I was a young baby. I stopped while I was a young kid/preteen, because I did something to prevent this, although it was for a short while. However, I started doing this again, during my preteen years and I kept repeating over and over again. In my teenage years, it happened again just like in my previous years. I don't really have a social life and I only met people at school. I even had a hard time staying with my cousins and I'm the youngest cousin in both maternal and paternal sides (and some of them are already married). My family was always concerned about me talking to myself and they always scolded me about this. They haven't done this in a while, but my mom and sister told me they will be sending to a psychiatrist, but it never really happened. They tell me something to scare me, but they never do anything about it and I don't know why. I talked to myself AND to my imaginary friends, but afterwards I become extremely exhausted, tiresome and even get a migraine, so I sometimes take a short nap or just stop doing it.


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## Cthulhu And Coffee (Mar 8, 2012)

I did, because I knew that other kids sometimes did and I wanted to see what it was like. So for some reason I started picturing literal God and some Greek goddess-type figures floating around my house. Of course, I knew they weren't real but it was fun for a minute. Didn't last long.

I think the reason they were such religious figures is because I was super fucking scared of pissing off God growing up, yet had a lot of trouble believing in him. So I probably imagined him in hopes that I could trick myself into believing he's what I was experiencing.


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## Strelnikov (Jan 19, 2018)

Daiz said:


> Do you do it for entertainment or to figure something out? (Also, omg, it's so good to hear that other people do lol)
> 
> I think for me, it's me Fe really needing to talk things through out loud for me to work them out but I have nobody I feel that comfortable spilling my soul to, so I have to do it though imaginary means.
> 
> EDIT: Interesting that there are so many more NT types saying yes.


It's more for entertainment. It happens when I'm bored and my mind isn't engaged. I don't meditate on or analyse things consciously in general. I usually react instinctively, without much analysis, to events. However, if I am asked to provide an opinion on something, it will sound as if I wrote a dissertation on the topic... The answer just comes to me from within, without any effort. Actually, talking will bring me even more ideas to elaborate and expand the opinion.

Regarding what you mentioned about having nobody to spill your soul to... I'm sorry to hear that! I hope you will find someone! I have my best friend who's an INFJ. She is very open with me, even about very deep and personal stuff. She can confide in me. I feel it is an honour and a privilege to hear intimate things from an INFJ (I know she doesn't open up to anyone and it is a gift awarded only to me). It's important for me to maintain and nourish that trust and provide her with a sense of safety and protection.


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## Saira (Feb 2, 2012)

I had them 24/7 until I got into a serious relationship and fell in love with a real man. Now they're with me 50% of the time. Old habits die hard.


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## Elena13 (Jun 7, 2017)

It is totally normal for an 18 year old to talk to her non existing twin sister.....right??

I talk to myselfe a lot and it is nice to imagine that someone is listening to what I have to say.


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## Lunar Lamp (Sep 21, 2014)

Well, in a way... I mean, I have characters that I created, and I've daydreamed about imaginary conversations or social situations. I don't pretend that there's an invisible person talking to me, but I don't see much of a difference when I think about it.


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