Some individuals with SzPD who are in treatment say "life passes them by" or they feel like living inside a shell; they see themselves as "missing the bus" and speak of observing life from a distance.Aaron Beck and his colleagues report that people with SzPD seem comfortable with their aloof lifestyle and consider themselves observers, rather than participants in the world around them. But they also mention that many of their schizoid patients recognize themselves as socially deviant (or even defective) when confronted with the different lives of ordinary people – especially when they read books or see movies focusing on relationships. Even when schizoid individuals may not long for closeness, they can become weary of being "on the outside, looking in". These feelings may lead to depression or depersonalization. If they do, schizoid people often experience feeling "like a robot" or "going through life in a dream".According to Guntrip, Klein and others, people with SzPD may possess a hidden sense of superiority and lack dependence on other peoples opinions. This is very different from the grandiosity seen in narcissistic personality disorder, which is described as "burdened with envy" and with a desire to destroy or put down others. Additionally, schizoids do not go out of their way to achieve social validation. : 60  Unlike the narcissist, the schizoid will often keep their creations private to avoid unwelcome attention or the feeling that their ideas and thoughts are being appropriated by the public.
A 2013 study looking at personality disorders and Internet use found that being online more hours per day predicted signs of SzPD. Additionally, SzPD correlated with lower phone call use and fewer Facebook friends.Descriptions of the schizoid personality as "hidden" behind an outward appearance of emotional engagement have been recognized since 1940, with Fairbairns description of "schizoid exhibitionism", in which the schizoid individual is able to express a great deal of feeling and to make what appear to be impressive social contacts yet in reality gives nothing and loses nothing. Because they are "playing a part", their personality is not involved. According to Fairbairn, the person disowns the part they are playing, and the schizoid individual seeks to preserve their personality intact and immune from compromise. The schizoids false persona is based around what those around them define as normal or good behaviour, as a form of compliance. : 143  Further references to the secret schizoid come from Masud Khan, Jeffrey Seinfeld and Philip Manfield, who give a description of an SzPD individual who "enjoys" public speaking engagements but experiences great difficulty in the breaks when audience members would attempt to engage him emotionally. These references expose the problems in relying on outer observable behavior for assessing the presence of personality disorders in certain individuals. Schizoid fantasy
A pathological reliance on fantasizing and preoccupation with inner experience is often part of the schizoid withdrawal from the world.