I never tell my friends about my issues. I can't even imagine how that conversation would go: "What happened about your last job?" "Oh, I can't reply to emails..."
I actually took a remote job (hah) thinking that maybe getting out of the office environment would help. Nope, now all communication was online it felt even more stressful. They thought I'd been hit by a car or something when I just stopped contacting them.
Now my resume looks like swiss cheese and it's hard to even get interviews now. I mean, why would you hired someone who has so many short stints at so many different jobs.
I went to a top school as well, so I have to put up seeing my schoolmates making their millions and living lavish lifestyles. I just want a simple life and a job that I can do for more than a year.
IM is usually ok, unless I expect to be criticized.
My remote fiasco is pretty similar to yours. Eventually it got cut from a full time job to an hour a month maintenance gig. I ended it when I started an in-office job and supposedly sign again for easier paperwork. I've been putting it off for like 3 months and old boss doesn't even send reminders anymore.
Current job is very scrummy, very social. Coworkers are a chair roll away, so no email. Right now there's a lot of work and scarcely have time to go inside my head. I hope it helps, I really do.