Not understanding social interactions made me a workaholic/hardcore gamer?

I'm a 30+ year old single male and I would describe my social life as being mediocre at best. I have gotten this feeling several times before in my life that there are things about social interactions that I don't always understand. Like not knowing how to keep a conversation going or how to escalate things if I meet someone that I am genuinely interested in. I pick up on social clues first several hours after a conversation, making people think I don't care about them even.

This has led to me feeling shame and wanting to make up for it by working hard as an adult so I can prove to myself that I am of value. I know it sounds weird but I have just started to realize that it has been my way of coping with it. Growing up I was the only child in my family, quite normal childhood, but I feel I did not learn fully how to socialize. For example in high school I was the quiet kid, got bullied a bit, so I played a lot of video games instead, focused on school and work, but I missed out on dating and friendships. I did go to prom but only because a girl asked me and thought I was attractive, and I did not know how to ask someone to prom otherwise.

Even to this day I experience similar situations while people my age already have children. When trying new hobbies where I meet someone, I end up repeating the same negative patterns similar to the ones from high school. I feel I never get validated for this enough, aside from seeing a therapist, because everyone knows how to socialize. I feel lonely and depressed, but I don't know how can I improve myself?