I Don't Believe in Introverts and Extroverts

The definition of an introverted person is someone that is interested in their own affairs. They are generally shy people that don't want to interact with others. In contrast to an introvert, we have an extroverted person who is confident in socializing with strangers.

These two terms are generally accepted by society. We have people that are just naturally gifted in social settings and we have people that are extremely shy in social settings. I don't believe in these at all. I think we're actually more alike than we think. There really are no introverts or extroverts, or at least we weren't naturally born to be this way. Our social background and life experiences have changed us to believe that we are introvert or extrovert.

I believe this because all introverts can have long meaningful conversations but only to certain individuals that they feel comfortable with. I started to analyze why are they comfortable with certain people and not others. There are a multitude of reasons why. The people they talk to might be people that they've known forever and have built a rapport with over the years. There might be a deep connection with the person that we don't know about. For the most part it's usually because the person they're talking to has the same interests. Introverts tend to only do things socially if things are easy.

This is a big concern as our world gets larger and larger. We have such a huge variety of interests that it's getting harder to pinpoint people with the exact same interests as us. As a result more people are claiming to be introverted when really they should just get outside of their comfort zone.

We have fewer extroverts lately. These are people that feel comfortable in social settings and have no problems talking with strangers. It's a shame because we need more people like this even though some extroverts make a bad name for other extroverts by being a little too extra and bog others down with their attention grabbing ways. This isn't always the case with extroverts though. That's not a characteristic of an extrovert. Remember that I mentioned that they're confident and comfortable in social settings. These are generally the people that make others feel welcome and wanted. They make strangers feel like they belong and generally make social settings more interesting and warm.

A lack of people that display extroverted characteristics would be a cold and miserable world, and in a way the world is moving in that direction. So what can we do to change this trend?

I think introverted people should make an effort in showing interests in other things that they aren't normally comfortable with. Enjoy the world that they live in and learn what it has to offer. People are generally good, and it's tough to live in a world where everyone keeps to themselves and refuses to show interest in others.

I'm not saying to overshare everything about yourself. I'm saying that we need to be more open. Even if you're around others that don't have the same interests as you, you should still attempt to be engaged. I know that there are billions of people around the world. Why waste my time on the person in front of me when we don't share the same interests? Well I would say it's common courtesy. Not showing any interest and just playing them off is utterly rude. We can't do that to each other.

To me saying that you're introverted is like trying to say you have a condition and that's why you're rude. You don't have to marry or live with the strangers you're talking to. You may be in the situation for an hour of your life. Why make that hour uncomfortable for yourself and everyone in the room because you're disinterested?

When we live life in this safety bubble it's easy to make this into a habit and so it's easy to just consider yourself an introvert.

Yes, past experiences such as bullying in the past, socioeconomic, race, religion, sexual orientation and a plethora of other things can help make ourselves feel introverted. We are all social creatures. Humans were not created to be solitary creatures. In fact we can get serious illnesses from being isolated for long periods of time.

So no I don't think there's such thing as introverted or extroverted people. We've had life experiences that may prevent us from being socially confident but we have to get over ourselves and try to make the most of life. It would be a shame to live a life alone.