No close friends because I am too concerned with my parents?

This is long, but at least I've organized it, apologies!

Part I: I love my parents
I feel like I turn people away from me because my decisions are always based on my parents. Most people at my age are concerned with moving out and living their own lives; they are finished with their post-secondary education. Whenever we get together, the ice breaker is always: 'So what are you guys going to do now?' I would love to do camping trips, road trips, move to the middle of nowhere, move to another country and work for awhile, but how can I leave my parents? I feel like I am also being professionally disadvantaged because of this.

1) They are too worried about my safety and me running into bad people.
I am quite accident prone and gullible. I understand where their concerns stem from, but I find that I can't go anywhere out of town (or even in town!) because it'll just cause them to be worried and stressed the entire time that I am not home.

2) They'll feel like they've been abandoned.
It has already been vocally expressed that this is something they feared. I had a distant relative to was left in a nursing home and rarely received any contact from her kids and it was all really sad.

3) They are starting to be physically ailing
My parents are working class people who do physical labour and nowadays, I can see that sometimes they have trouble just walking around a grocery store or up the stairs. We don't have any nearby relatives that can help care for my family. Because of the health concerns, the community that I am living in right now is the best community for my parents.

All of my friends have expressed how they are ready to leave. One even stated that their parents need them but they don't care; they are going to live the way they want to. My parents have lived through genocide, carpet bombings, being stranded at sea, starvation... I can't imagine just leaving and living my life for just myself. That just seems wrong.

Part II: Being ignored
Back to that question that comes up at every get-together: 'So what are you guys going to do now?' I answer honestly that I wish I could travel and explore the world, but I can't because of my family. I am incapable of lying even if it is life-or-death, even if it's a rule for a party game.

1) It's no fun hearing about people's difficulties
Of course my blunt answer is social no-no. I may be honest, but I have no tact. Should I learn to lie about my life? No one wants to meet to hear depressing news, everyone has their on struggles to different degrees. It's natural that no one wants to be around me because of this.

I don't like listening to people's life difficulties either. However, I do sit and listen to people when they start talking to me about how they are unhappy with something in their life for hours. Even if I am very tired and need to be alert for the next day and it's late in the night because it can help the other person. Am I wrong to mention my unhappiness? Maybe it's because I am not allowed to go out as much (due to my parents) with them. I certainly can't say that I've let them stay in my home in times of trouble, or go out with them late in the night and enjoy life. I guess am not close enough with anyone for them to care. Recently, someone I barely knew had took his own life, and there was an out-pour of comments about him being missed and loved. This is helpful for the family left behind, but a part of me couldn't help but think, if only people would have shown this kind of simple concern or said 'hello!' before it was too late.

2) Sometimes I am just plain invisible
Whenever I am not with a person one-on-one, I feel like I'm not there. I am the unessential friend. The side character. The auxiliary component.

After sitting quietly waiting for my friends to finish their conversation, I would start to say something. Halfway through my sentence, I would get cut-off. I wait patiently for my turn again but the same thing happens. Whenever I cut someone off unintentionally, I would apologize at the end of my talking and ask them what they were going to say, but this happens rarely the other way around. I even tried to invite someone to a gathering that I thought they would enjoy, but ultimately couldn't because I would never be able to say anything without being cut-off.

I was advised to call out the person who cut me off in the form of a joke to get myself heard. However, it feels even worse to call out a person 8 times before getting noticed because what I wanted to say (eg. a joke, a relevant comment) was ultimately brushed off with a simple "Okay sure." Sometimes I would get to talk, but people would just be texting on their phones.

To Conclude:
I don't think anyone would want me as a friend or partner who is:
1) Overly concerned about my parents that I won't compromise my parent's happiness to suit theirs.
2) Socially awkward, stupidly honest about myself, unable to hold back my negative feelings about myself.
3) Doesn't have any interests other than eating and the internet because I don't understand what to do in life. I enjoy board games, walking, sleeping, taking pictures of scenery and eating and that's about it.

How do I stop wallowing in self-pity?I had always lived life feeling that I didn't need friends, but I've found that I am the happiest when I am with other people face-to-face and having a good time (usually one-on-one). I take solace in knowing that I personally know some people in worse situations, but that doesn't bring happiness.

I was told by someone that if I didn't change that I would be used and stepped on over-and-over again in life. I was told by someone else to be-the-change that I want to see, and what I want to see is people being honest and supporting each other and not abandoning anyone...

You are in a very difficult situation and I can sympathise with you. It is hard to be the only child of aging and frail parents. As well as carrying all of their hopes and dreams, you are also responsible for their care. This is a lot to carry.
Their fear of being abandonned is trapping you more tightly than it should, but they can't be blamed for this either as this sort of fear is too deeply rooted to be treated purely intellectually. And, in light of their awful experiences, it is understandable that they see the world as a highly dangerous place. However, while you might not be free to move abroad, you should certainly have the freedom to have some holidays. Maybe you could have a word with social services about a temporary helper coming in while you are away. I had some breaks when my mum was frail and ailing and she complained a great deal and at length about the help she received while I was away, but I needed at least occasionally to get away and to relax for the sake of my sanity. My friend's dad was the same, so it isn't something unique to your parents not to want their child to 'abandon' them, even if for a week only. You could take very short breaks at first, just a couple of days.
People who have never been carers do not understand the loss of freedom of movement. They can't see that you can't just make plans and take off to live abroad at a moment's notice. It might be an idea for you to see if there is a carers support group locally where you will find others who WILL understand your situation. My mum used to get upset even when I went to the supermarket for the weekly shop or to the post office to pay the gas bill, so I can relate to your situation very much.
Being invisible-I am invisible almost everywhere I go as well. It seems that I am transparent or something and that my words do not carry much weight either. Sometimes it seems I don't exist.
Being a carer for older parents is not always a barrier to meeting someone. It will make it harder as you may have to cancel an evening out at short notice but if you meet someone who is or has been a carer herself, then she will understand. I would go out with someone who is a carer as I know the ropes.

You really need to just go live your life. Yea, you may feel guilty, been in that boat before, but this is a part of growing up. You actually grow up and have a life for yourself. Go work on your career and yourself.

As far as your parents thinking you are naive, you gotta be young and dumb before you are old and wise. It's okay to make mistakes in life, parents just don't want to see it. So what I did, I just didn't tell them (and still don't) when I messed up. And again, you are not abandoning them, you are growing up.

If you ever need to talk about this, you can pm me. I lived this.

The history of your family sounds amazing, it makes sense why you wouldn't want to really leave them.. I know my father has always told me that he kept himself back, as in his father used to own and rent loads of places, it was a large business, my dad said that he wanted to leave but was persuaded by his family that they needed him.. He told me that he shouldn't really have done that, and that it's "family blackmail", but either way that decision is really for you alone to make, I feel you should not be held back in any way, but perhaps visit your parents now and then, so the connection is always there.

Being ignored that way seems very annoying, (obviously) I'm actually thinking it's just the type of company you're with, but.. I'm not really sure how you could deal with that, making yourself heard isn't easy depending on who you are, I've found myself in these situations but what I've realized is that the others in the group all have something I do not, you can usually sense that, have you noticed any of that going on?

I grew up mostly raised by my grandparents and my grandfather was particularly protective -- so much so that to this day I have problem taking risks. Sometimes you can only learn by doing and if you wait too long, the learning curve is steep.

I think you should be able to get out of the house more often. You can call and let your parents know where you are. You should have a frank talk with them that you need time on your own but that you are not abandoning them. Above their own concerns, parents will want you to be happy. If you end up unhappy, it will do neither of you good if you blame them for holding you back.

Like someone suggested above, I would talk to social services and see if they can get your parents an aide. Your life is very different from your friends' right now, so I suggest making friends who do know what it's like to be caregivers. Really, I don't think anything is wrong with you -- I just think you have friends that don't suit you well. After you leave school, it just naturally gets harder to find people in your same exact circumstances. For example, you like taking pictures of scenery, so I'm sure you can find a photography club. Plenty of people enjoying walking/hiking. You can also try to find a community online if it's hard to meet locals with your interests.