I always keep thinking: "A phone works both ways."
If I'm not reaching out, then what stops them from doing so? Oh, right...

If you don’t mind my asking, which app? I’m dealing with the same thing.

I love my friends and family, but I feel too overwhelmed to actually reach out to them. Every conversation feels “too much” even if it’s just general stuff.

I feel this in my soul. Whenever I do think about it, I don't have time to really commit to a conversation, but them another year passes without reaching out.

Hey, in advance, I don't have adhd but my significant other and a very close friend have, so I just want to give my 2 cents from the other side.

Don't feel embarrassed or guilty if you didn't message for some period, it's not like you're doing it on purpose. Don't hesitate to speak out this topic and try to explain that's nothing personal, some might get it some not but it makes contacting them a lot easier.

Some personal advice: I know it's hard to track but try to contact them when you have different moods. Its hard to be polite, understanding and not annoyed if your friend is only contacting you when he/she feels miserable.

Yeah, I lost all my friends because I didn't keep in touch. However, neither did they. My excuse other than ADHD is about 6 consecutive years of agonizing struggles from divorce to fighting for parental rights to job burnout. I'm working on recovery. It's slow, and executive dysfunction is not helping.

I get it. I used to beat myself up for it. Still do sometimes. But I have to remind myself that if they aren't reaching out either, they may feel the same. We both care about each other and if one or the other of us called we'd help in a heart beat or have a lengthy enjoyable conversation. But we also have lives to go about. And if they aren't involved in the day to day it takes concerted effort to reach out.

When I feel really bad is when I don't send a Xmas card but get one from them. Lol

Fortunately a lot of those friends have the same deal, and it doesn't really matter if it's been a week or a year since we last talked.

If there's people I care about but hardly stay in touch with, they usually get my annual greetings over the holidays. During Christmas or New Year's I go through my contacts and just pass along wishes to everyone I care about. Often they answer and use the chance to catch up about the year. It served me well. Maybe using such an annual opportunity helps you, too.

I struggle with this a lot, it doesn't help that I have crippling social anxiety so I already feel nervous about reaching out, then proceed to forget, then feel 10x as nervous because I feel guilty about my delayed response. All of that results in me not responding for even longer and making it worse.

Then I finally respond, feel so rubbish about the whole thing that it takes me forever to respond again.

So many of my online friendships have turned into basically penpal type arrangements because I get so delayed with my responses because of this.