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Comment by atoav | Hacker News Reader

I am an introvert and I can (and if necessary will) take over the microphone and address a room with 500 people in it. I might even enjoy that a little.

What makes me an introvert isn't that I am shy (I am not), what makes me an introvert is that I find all interaction with other people except a select few exhausting and draining. Don't get me wrong: That doesn't mean I am weird or bad at talking with people — in fact I am quite the opposite. It just means it costs me a lot of energy, while extroverts appear to lose energy when they are alone, I lose it when there is a certain kind of social interaction needed around me.

So people don't really see me as an introvert, because to them it is all about being shy and a little bit awkward. But that isn't what makes you an introvert, the energy part is.

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I'm very much like this. I often compare social gatherings to activities like hiking. I might go for a hike from time to time and I might even enjoy it, but it will be exhausting and I will need some time after the hike to recharge.

It's one of those "healthy chores". Unpleasant to think about, usually not as bad when you're actually doing it. Also like hiking (or lifting) there is an element of risk.

The presumption that introversion equals shyness still pervades even with what seems to be a cultural awareness amongst people on where they stand on that trait.

I'm very much like you in that many people mistake me for an extrovert because of the opportune occasions where I display "extroverted" traits in social settings. However it's more of a decision (mostly based on energy) than a default mode I fall back on.

I agree and most psychology articles I have read describes it as such, that introversion or extroversion is about what recharges you and what drains you. What the OP article and most of the comments are talking about is social anxiety. I am an introvert, but I love get togethers and social situations. I just know I have a very finite emotional budget for those things and plan accordingly.

> take over the microphone and address a room with 500 people in it

I'm not sure this has anything to do with introversion.

Speech and debate clubs are filled with introverts. The notion of "stage fright" is completely orthogonal to introversion. You're speaking at people, with YOUR ideas, YOUR words - it's not a dialogue, with shared feelings, mood, etc, which is where introverts generally get drained.

That was my point, precisely because the clichè in popular culture equates introverts with a kind of recluse who would rather die, than speak in front of an audience.

The whole discussion here is about introverts and how the existing public perception of us is flawed, because it misses the point entirely. As playing musician I know many extrovert performers who are agued with stage fright, something which doesn't bother me as an introvert at all.

Maybe it is because being seen in a bad light by people I wouldn't enjoy to meeting in the first place isn't a threat. When I play, my biggest fear is that we won't perform to our/my own standards and thats it. If the audience digs it that is great, but I am not afraid of them hating it, because I am aware of how good/bad what we do is.

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