I have a man who is in charge of recruiting at a college frequently complain to me about Facebook and how he doesn’t like/understand it. I find this extremely amusing and somewhat tragic as he’s a recruiter at a college. Since 99.9% of all college-going kids are going to be on Facebook you’d think he’d be learning all he could about the elusive Facebook on the ever more elusive interwebz because it is a tool that can help make him look better at his job.
Alas, he is ever stubborn about refusing to participate in that fad the kids call the Facebook. It doesn’t stop me from reminding him how ironic it is as a recruiter that he refuses to use a powerful recruiting tool.
But I digress.
What I set out to talk about was Facebook. More specifically how I appreciate Facebook for linking me to article I would never have sought out on my own. Take a recent article on the HuffPo about how to interact with introverts.
It includes a neat infograph/comic that describes how to understand introverts and being an introvert myself, I jumped for joy. Plus I felt like it gave me a lot of insight into how I deal with people.
The gist of the article, which is info a lot of you probably already know, is that extroverts gain their energy being around people while introverts generate their own energy being alone. So an introvert values that energy as precious and doesn’t want to waste it on unnecessary interactions. One of my favorite parts of the infograph.
via Huffington Post (Roman Jones)
When I’m in a conversation I feel like is a “just to talk” and not that the person actually cares that I listen to the words they’re saying, I do feel this angst/anxiety to exit quickly. It does wear me out to have these interactions. Not that I don’t want them. But I think understanding this about myself can promote a better relationship between those friends of mine who are extroverts and me.
If you have introverts in your life or are one yourself, I highly recommend checking out the full article, especially the infograph.
That’s not to say I don’t like extroverts, even though they do steal my energy. For me it’s usually a mostly equal trade off. Extroverts help me get out of my shell (or hamster ball) a little bit and typically allow me to be a little more silly and goofy with them. That’s particularly why I like the variety of personalities and people in the world. It would be too dull if we were all the same or even similar enough.
My own two cents to the extroverts is to be cool if us introverts just don’t want to chat. It’s not that we don’t like your or want to hear about your stuff, but we may be low on energy and need to recharge.
So are you an introvert or extrovert? Did you find the article helpful? What advice would you give to an extrovert dealing with an introvert or vice versa? Especially you extroverts. What advice do you have for us introverts? Let us all know below.
Lit and Scribbles with Jae 
Cool stuff. I’m not against chatting myself, but I have always tended to find small talk more internally awkward for myself than for other people. It’s like “can we move onto meaningful talk now”.
I went through the link to HuffPo’s other post on signs of introversion:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/introverts-signs-am-i-introverted_n_3721431.html
I lean mostly on the side of introversion, and I identify as an introvert (even if I have been mistaken for an extrovert) but not all of the points made relate to how I experience the world as an introvert. It’s more that the points I relate to, I relate to strongly. For instance, I went out for a friend’s birthday last night, and by 1am, I started zoning out because it actually felt like my brain was logging off. I wasn’t tired tired, just tired of the energy I’d expended in one place for so long.
I really liked that link you posted. Sometimes it’s just nice to get a little affirmation. Plus I feel like if you know you tend to do or feel certain things you can cope better in situations. Like I don’t have to feel guilty if I ditch out early on a party or leave certain conversations. It’s not on them or me, it’s just I need to recharge. I think also I can make a goal for social settings and once it’s been achieved not feel bad about disengaging. Some interesting food for thought none the less.
I saw this the other day on my own Facebook feed and I was like, “YES. THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE.” lol
Myself, I’m not what I’d call a full-blown introvert. I do enjoy being around other people, having lolz, hanging out and all that. But, as the article explains, this does drain my energy something fierce. And sometimes when I’m around people it really gets on my nerves that they insist on talking to me while I’m writing/concentrating on something/trying to take a nap/whatever. So yeah, I like being around people, but I’d like it even more if they took the proper cues from me when I obviously want to be left alone. 😛
I’d just like it if some friends were able to realize I’m not going to be interested in talk for the sake of talk, but that I *do* want to hear about the important things going on in their lives. It’s a tough balance. Sometimes I just exit the convo early.
I’m definitely with you on that one. I have this one coworker who just talks, and talks, and talks, and talks, and most of the time it’s about stuff I couldn’t care less about, so it’s like, “Please…just let me have my silence until you come up with something important.”
Can I be both?
I don’t see why not. 😉
I think all writers are introverts at heart, but some of us can switch to extrovert when needed. But I find the extrovert in me isn’t as genuine as the introvert.