I had this issue as well and suspect it’s pretty common. The depth and complexity of EVE seems to attract people who love spreadsheets more than socializing, but also at some level requires social interaction to succeed. I, like many, tried to just play solo until I realized there were many things I’d never be able to experience because of that. Most of the time I’d just quit but this time I decided to force myself to try and join up with a group and participate in the group before quitting.
Luckily I found a decent corp on my first try. They have voice comms I’ll listen to but I’ve yet to talk on the mic because I honestly don’t like doing that. I communicate mostly through text and there are others who do so as well so it’s not a big deal. I’ve experienced a lot of great stuff flying with these guys and accomplished way more than what I could do solo. I got my first solo PVP kill after these guys helped me with my fit and taught me a bit more about tactics. I’d say do your best to force yourself to join up with some people and try to interact with them a bit. It’ll get easier the more you do it.
I found the following thread to be an interesting read. People are asking why local chat seems quiet. Maybe it’s just because there’s a lot of people who would prefer not to talk?
Oh and a side note.
For whatever reason there seems to be a ton of trolls in-game and on the forums. I’m not sure if there are more here than other places online but they certainly seem impossible to avoid. At least on the forums you can ignore them and it’s best that you do! “Don’t feed the trolls”. Too many threads on this forum unfortunately end in an off-topic flame war after somebody takes the bait of responding. I really wish there was tighter moderation on all the off-topic arguing seen in nearly every thread (often by the exact same people). Oh! And “carebear” is meant as a derogatory term.