Oh no you've completely misunderstood my point. I prefer people, and that's exactly why I want to continue talking to my friends.

Perhaps you're more comfortable chatting to strangers, perhaps this is a cultural thing. An analogy, if I was sitting in a restaurant with friends having a good time and a random additional person got seated at our table that would end the conversation, stop the socialising, and at best we'll have a boring, shallow conversation with the new person about who they are.

Understood. Other people bother me little, but If it happens, I’ll sit elsewhere, no big deal. It is certainly cultural but my 35 years in the US, I’ve seen most everything … I’m pretty immune.