If you want to get everything done, leave an introvert alone

For an extrovert, being alone expends energy and socializing replenishes it.

For an introvert, socializing expends energy and being alone replenishes it.

It's not about social skills, or whether you enjoy the company of others. It's just that if socializing feels like it requires effort and makes you tired, you are probably an introvert. By this standard, I am most definitely an introvert. I like socializing, hanging out with friends, and going to parties, but they make me feel tired and I need time alone to "recharge" afterward. It's especially draining to meet new people. Among people I already know well, there's less "friction" so it uses up less of my social energy.

I also think (anecdotally, I don't have any statistics to back this up) that introverts are the majority, while extroverts are a highly visible minority. They tend to connect people and provide "social glue."

There's a myth that people are "introverts" or "extroverts". It's a continuous unimodal attribute, not a bimodal one. There's people who are more "introverted", just as some people are really tall, but most people are just average. The "normal" person quite enjoys hanging out with friends, for a few hours a day.

I think there's another issue here - people always have double standards. It has little to do with introversion and extroversion. Try interrupting an extroverted person when they are busy, and they'll be just as pissed off.

It's probably true that highly introverted will tend to shy away from interrupting people (it's called forethought, which can be one of the things that makes them introverted). It's probably also true that extroverted people will be more direct when they want to shoo someone away. I think the main point is, people need to have the social intelligence to respect other people's personal space, and to defend their own space.

It's fashionable to think personality is a zero-sum game - introverts are smart, but lack social intelligence. That's not really true. Most people have pretty good social intelligence, but only use it when it suits them.

aw, come on. Seriously? It's a sad world when the only way we can get our points heard is to make grandiose claims like these.

It's the equivalent of saying, say, "If you want life to persist, treat women with respect." Yes, women should be treated with respect no matter what, but this sort of bombast just strikes me as... petty, really.

I could be being butthurt or something, but please don't make grand claims in your arguments just to get people to listen to you, even if what you're saying is true.

Because then all signal is noise and you can't trust anything you read and it's just a sad life to lead, in my eyes. :(

It's especially poignant in relationships. I feel compelled to provide a justification for why I want to be alone, because people assume that "because I need time alone" needs further translation. Sometimes it does, but for me it is how my mind settles. For a long time, I tried to change that part of myself -- I was told it is a maladaptation. Now, I think it's just how I am, and I don't feel a justification is required.

I like quiet.

The article implies that everything gets "done" by introverts, to which I call "bullshit"(unless the point was to show that being an arrogant prick isn't a function of being introverted or extroverted). Studies have show that for leadership at least, extreme intro/extro-version is a bad thing while being more moderate (i.e. knowing when to speak up and when to listen) is an asset.

Constantly having to hear the annoying voices of other people, interruptions, etc. I'd must rather be in a little corner office with the door closed. I really have no problem going entire days without interacting with another human being and I'm way more productive that way. Music is also not an option really. I don't want or need any further "stimulation" to concentrate. Just the thoughts in my head are enough.

(I know this from experience as I worked for more or less 1 year on my own from 9-5 with no human interaction doing development).

I like hanging out with close friends; but I prefer hanging out with one or two friend at a time (as opposed to a group of friends). That makes me an introvert?

I don't usually go to clubs because loud music makes it impossible to talk (but this means, I have a 'need' to talk, so does that make me an extrovert?)

I have very awkward speaking skills - like if I were to tell you a joke, it'd sound monotonous and you'd miss the punch line. But I often fantasisze of having such awesome speaking skills that I'd walk in a room of very large audience and just own the room with my amazing stand-up comedy or some other entrainment act. But I am neither skilled at telling jokes, nor writing jokes. I have less-than-averagish sense of humor, in fact. So, that makes me WANNA be extrovert!?

I guess I am just a socially awkard person.

And I've worked with introverts who are kind, thoughtful, humane and design great products with little or no complaint.

I find that the former are paid well and are constantly getting raises by discovering that complaining can be a temporary form of leverage and the latter are taken advantage of and underpaid.

It shouldn't be hard stuff, people are not generally embarrassed about the topic so any one should be able to pop out a study. It involves work productivity so it should be a popular. There should be some sort of biomodal graph showing percentages.

Even more than arbitrarily defining human beings into categories that don't necessarily have a scientific basis in reality, the "introvert/extravert" paradigm is one of several that negates the concept of free will, that we, as humans, ultimately have control over our own actions.

[At least for me, Twitter is a way-of-the-limit too extraverted, short attention-span and distraction-full tool. I'm not saying it's bad, just well... just not too much introvert-friendly.]

Beware of mixed marriages.

that alone.