For example no matter how hard I try I can't pick up on many of the subtle cues or understand what they mean irl especially stuff like gestures, facial expressions, body language and tone, I can rarely guess from context or tell if they are positive or negative
Dude come, this is exactly what I was talking about in another thread where incels like to exaggerate their shortcomings like its a damn competition - "No bro, I'm the worst"'
You telling me that you don't understand what a smile is, what a sad face is, you can't see if someone is upset by a look of disgust on their face (despite seeing it on so many women's faces in response to approaching them - I can't ever forget that face JFL)
On top of that I can't make small talk for more than a minute or so at max without it being extremely awkward, stuff like follow up questions or responding to things emotionally or making comments about situations doesn't come naturally to me
1. That's because you are trying to make "normie" small talk, shit you don't care about, the stuff I talk about is the stuff I like to talk about, people either just say - "dude you know you're crazy right" or they start laughing and they add their 2 cents to it, you can't fall into the "normie pace" because it isn't your "environment". When conversations about dating and relationships come up I basically freeze up in most cases and start looking around frantically (something I am conscious of and these days force myself not to do), I just go to my usual routine of - "its a lot of hastle these days, especially marriage, not interested right now"
2. Your part about responding emotionally is also the same thing, you aren't an emotional person so why are you trying to be emotive, I straight let it be known that i'm not really a "feeling" kind of person, so people show me baby pictures and I say "I don't feel anything", something sad happens like a death I just "emulate" a face of concern and empathy and say something typical "sorry for your loss".
You are trying to take on a normie persona, rather than incorporating normie behaviors into your persona
That's why your "personality" isn't believable, people think I'm genuinely the guy I am at work, because the guy I am at work is like 90% me, you are going about this "blending into society" thing wrong, what you are trying to do is something I admitted to myself I could never pull off, tried to do it at university, failed horribly, a lot of awkward memories I cringe at every single day
I have heavy obsessions with certain topics and don't follow normie trends at all which means I don't much about whatever they are into. I have to think this shit through and often times I say things that are factually incorrect just because it sounds cool in my head.
So don't talk about those things then, and don't really talk to them
The most significant thing here is your environment, I'm speaking about myself at a work environment, but if I were at school I'd be a social leper with my work place personality, don't know how to help you there, this is why I asked your age at the beginning, the more you speak, the more you make it sound like you are a young guy at school or university trying to "fit in", nothing I'm telling you is going to help with that, it just works in the work place because work environments are more impersonal
For example let's say there's someone important you want to befriend for whatever reason or get that person to like you, I'd have no idea how to do that.
Why are you even trying to do that, to me that just sounds weird, I never really like anybody tbh, not enough that I'd try to make them befriend me, I always just be myself, and if they want nothing to do with me, they have nothing to do with me, its much better to find a small group of people you share similarities with, than to try and "force" a relationship into existence where you have to pretend and fake it, you sound more and more like you are at a school environment, this doesn't sound like someone who is in the working world at all, I can't really help you, because I'm past that stage of my life and I'm glad, once the "schooling" phase is done life becomes much simpler and you have to pretend less, your priorities change, you aren't trying to "fit in" anymore, you are trying to "get ahead"