Nowadays, it’s extremely difficult to tell where prudence ends and paranoia begins.
That is all.
Max Lucado puts an oar in:
“The step between prudence and paranoia is short and steep. Prudence wears a seat belt. Paranoia avoids cars. Prudence washes with soap. Paranoia avoids human contact. Prudence saves for old age. Paranoia hoards even trash. Prudence prepares and plans. Paranoia panics. Prudence calculates the risk and takes the plunge. Paranoia never enters the water.”
— Max Lucado, Fearless: Imagine Your Life Without Fear
Of course, it doesn’t require paranoia to move one to avoid human contact. Perhaps one simply finds people to be boring or stupid or offensive in general: all valid reasons to avoid human contact. *heh*