Lots of video games.

…Does it have to be a healthy coping mechanism?

I endure, painfully.

I picked up a sport this year. People are surprisingly friendly.

There is a singular niche community that I involve myself with where I pop in and make highly desired items to give away for free.

It makes me feel like people care about me for a while. For now, that’s good enough for me.

I don’t know if you’ve seen this before, but I recommend the Kurzgesagt video on loneliness.
It hit me quite deep, first time I saw it.

Sit through it

Distract

Assuming this is coming from a lack of friendship:

Start with a pet, if possible. Then work your way up.

Getting my cat a few years ago helped take the edge off so I didn’t come off as so desperate or distant (oscillating between the two extremes).

Then slowly picked up effective habits and retrained bad habits in interacting with people. Still working on it.

If you mean you feel lonely within your existing friendships, there’s a degree to which that is “normal” or at least somewhat universal. Some philosophers would say true connection with another person is fundamentally impossible. But even if that’s the case, we can find meaning and beauty in the process of trying to achieve the unachievable. Happiness comes not from finally filling an unfillable lack (a mythical ideal), but the novelty or enjoyment of the process.

For me, my loneliness was really rooted in my self-loathing. When I was able to deal with that, I was able to deal with my feelings of loneliness.

I pretend to have imaginary friends in my head until it seems like real enough and the day passes.

Though my lizard brain demands me to be around other people, most of the things that bring me genuine life satisfaction are just easier to do solo. When I’m at purely social events I also get this sense of dread that I could be making better use of my time.

The voice in my head is making contradictory demands, so I’ve learned to not feel bad for circumventing it. I have my own goals in life, instincts be damned.

I find that listening to people casually talking is usually enough to satisfy the lizard brain, so I listen to a lot of stuff in the background: YouTube video essays, Twitch Just Chatting streamers, etc. When it gets particularly demanding I’ll try engaging with the people, but usually I just let my subconscious listen while I’m focusing on more important stuff.

That’s a very good question

The same way I distract myself from anything even slightly unpleasant or uncomfortable.

Escapism via gaming, reading, music, and YouTube.

Usually multiple at once. Sensory overload makes it easier to distract yourself completely.

Alcohol… Feel like ive been overindulding in it for a few years… but what else to do?

My dogs, my awesome wife, and lots of video games. Some pot now and then, also, but there’s a limit to how much it helps.

Social anxiety around embarrassment and rejection tends to keep me away from family and friends, so I embarrass myself only around safe people.