An introvert knows how horrible social exhaustion is when you want to disconnect from the world and not talk with anyone. It’s normal to get tired of people when the conversation continues for a long time. Who wants to talk all day, every day? Nobody wants to have their social battery drained on small talk. While an extrovert might not mind it, introverted people are a bit different socially.
An introvert knows how to be social — it's just a bit exhausting. An introvert will always have something interesting to say, but not the enthusiasm to do so freely. It's always interesting to converse with a social introvert, due to their mysterious aura. However, certain things can create a sort of introvert hangover — the feeling of exhaustion that can only come from awkward social events and interactions.
For an extrovert, it might be hard to understand why introverts get annoyed a lot quicker than them. Luckily, user noyanem raised an interesting question on AskReddit — “Introverts of Reddit, what social interaction makes your “battery” go down to 0% immediately?” Leave an upvote on a situation that you’ve encountered yourself. On the other hand, if you are an introvert yourself, share your most uncomfortable interactions in the comments below.
#1
"Ice breaker activities. The level of hate I have for icebreaker activities can not be measured."
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76points
#2
"Someone commenting on how much you talk.
Either, 'Wow, talkative today', or 'X is quiet.'
It's like, 'I was comfortable until you had to start treating me like you were tourists at a zoo exhibit.'"
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61points
#3
"Let's go around the room and everyone say a little something about themselves!"
goldbricker83 wrote: "Now everyone get into groups of two! Looks around the room, everyone has somehow already partnered up in 10 milliseconds flat."
KING_DARKLIME replied: "I hate those... I just end up not grouping up with anyone, trying to go unnoticed by the teacher. But then she/he notice me and forces me into a group of people who were having fun and it makes me feel like the biggest a-hole just because I didn't have any friends."
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59points
#4
"Anything after work. Work is draining enough."
noyanem replied: "I don’t understand how people make plans after work/school. I run home to eat and sleep."
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57points
#5
"Mandatory team building exercises at work. I have nothing against my co-workers, they are nice people and I like them enough to make chit-chat with them, I do not like them enough to do some stupid team-building activity that just wastes time and is nowhere near as fun as the organizer wants it to be."
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47points
#6
"Little children interacting with me. 'Look, I have a toy horse.' 'Yes, I see.' And then we both feel awkward."
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47points
#7
"Having to engage in small talk really wears me down. Like two sentences in and I’m exhausted. I love deep conversations but small talk just kills my soul."
BlandThings replied: "Especially when it is an extrovert that can't stand silence. Car rides with them are so draining because you are essentially trapped, and since they can't have silence it is a constant conversation. Dude... if you drain all my energy, we are going to crash."
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43points
#8
"When you're at a party where everyone else knows each other."
user replied: "I hate going to parties where I know one maybe two people, you want to interact with them, but don’t want to follow them around like a little puppy dog because I don’t want to talk to anyone else."
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39points
#9
"Grocery delivery has changed my life."
5hep06 replied: "Yes, I have not been inside a grocery store in almost two years and I am a changed person because of it! I couldn’t take the lines, the people, shopping carts. Turns out public places were not for me."
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37points
#10
"Going to any store when it’s packed."
Luna_Deafenhine replied: "If I see a store or restaurant that is too crowded I just leave immediately. I just refuse to deal with that."
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36points
#11
"If I have to dominate my way into a conversation by speaking over you until you stop talking then I've got better things to do."
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36points
#12
"My children's friends' parties. Forced interaction with all my kid's friends' parents drains me."
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31points
#13
"Why are you shy? Why don't you talk?"
OnemoreSavBlanc replied: "You don’t say much do you?" Are you not happy today?"
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30points
#14
"Hey, let’s get a drink, you and me."
"Sure."
At the pub:
"Oh, when I said, 'Just you and me, I actually meant you, me, and my friend from uni that you don't know, but with whom I go way back and will talk to all night while ignoring you."
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30points
#15
"Large parties or anywhere with booming music and drunk people."
user replied: "Yes. I can handle groups just fine, but all this loud music and the shouting gets me in 10 minutes."
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30points
#16
"An overly happy person. To the point where you think they are either faking it or wonder if they are actually that happy."
user replied: "For me, it's the energy. It's hard to be around somebody that is really high-energy."
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27points
#17
"Definitely when you can’t get your words into a conversation. You make an honest effort to be more outward but people talk over you and you just give up."
-Firestar- replied: "Especially when you actually have something to contribute in that 30-minute conversation that has gone by but everyone won't shut up so you wait patiently for your turn but you sit, inwardly crying because they've changed topics twice now and there's no way to go back and say your piece that might've actually made you interesting."
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26points
#18
"Work. Customer service has made my skin crawl since day 1, but it pays the bills."
noyanem replied: "That’s awful. Do you have to deal with phone calls? My social anxiety doesn’t let me pick up phones with unknown numbers."
MaritereSquishy wrote: "I had the same problem until... What if it's someone you know who's lost their phone, and your number is the only one they remember? My friend had her handbag stolen while shopping, got security who let her use the office to call someone to pick her up, her dad was the only number she knew by heart. He didn't pick up because he didn't recognize the number. She was a tad upset."
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24points
#19
"One on one interaction where I’m sort of in charge. Anytime I’m leading around a new hire or intern at work and need to take them around all day, take them to lunch, etc. Exhausting. Being on point and being responsible for another person’s experience of their day is just so much pressure."
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23points
#20
"Going to Walmart. Specifically Walmart and only Walmart. That place drains my soul. I can go in happy, energetic, and social and leave wanting to slit my wrists in the parking lot while yelling at whoever was unlucky enough to come with me."
Heterophylla replied: "There is this horrible frantic energy at Walmart that puts me on total alert."
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23points