Bored Panda reached out to the team looking after 'IntrovertMemes', and one moderator who has been taking care of the group from the start, YT_Sharkyevno, was kind enough to have a chat about the subreddit.
"It’s not a very hard subreddit to moderate," they told us. "Being an introvert isn’t exactly a divisive topic, and the community seems to attract accepting people. The only thing I really have to moderate is spam and the occasional person promoting self-destructive behavior. But that is pretty rare."
The moderator also pointed out that a lot more people are introverted than most think. "Introversion is a spectrum," YT_Sharkyevno said. "Being an introvert isn’t bad or a thing to be ashamed of. So don’t be embarrassed to let your friends know your social energy is out and that you need some alone time."
We have long heard that human personalities can be split into the polar opposites of "introvert" and "extrovert". People tend to identify themselves as belonging to either one of the groups, depending on their character, behavior, and lifestyle choices, but this seemingly simple idea of figuring out where you fall on the personality spectrum may be more complicated than you believe. Since there is a myriad of information about the subject, we reached out to an expert to find out what’s accurate and what isn't.
Joanna Rawbone, MSc, a speaker, trainer, coach, and founder of Flourishing Introverts, explained we need to look at the basics to find out the key difference between introverts and extroverts.
"The most reliable definition comes from the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who coined the terms originally," Rawbone told Bored Panda. "He explained that the difference between introverts and extraverts (he spelled the word with an 'a') is what drains and what charges our mental batteries."
According to Jung, extraverts recharge by constantly seeking interaction, active experiences, and change: "As a solar panel converts the sun’s rays to make energy, extraverts get their energy from people and the busyness of the world about them."
Rawbone talked about this in her 2019 TEDx talk Shifting the Extraversion bias to unlock the potential of introverts. She noted that extroverts work on a sort of energy "trickle charge", constantly topping up while they are in stimulating situations. "When it comes to communications, their process is 'Say-Think-Say', so they are never particularly attached to their comments and may not even remember them soon after."
Alternatively, introverts fall into the 'Think-Say-Think' communication pattern. Sentences that escape their mouths are extremely thought-through, intended, and usually perfectly formed. But unfortunately, "if there isn’t space in the conversation, they may not get to the ‘say’ part of their process."
"Introverts are already over-stimulated mentally, so they do not need additional stimulation," Rawbone added. "In fact, it quickly overwhelms them." Their internal world is rich with thoughts, ideas, and personal reflection, allowing them to generate peaceful and calm energy from within.
"Unlike the constant trickle charge for the extraverts, introverts need to monitor their 'low battery' warning signal. If you know an Introvert, you may well have heard them say 'I’ve had enough peopleing for today' or 'I’m all peopled out!' That’s when they may just 'go offline' or disappear without warning because when they need to recharge, they have to be somewhere quiet."
Interestingly, the expert believes that the majority of introverts are already born that way. Or, in her words, "we’re not weird, we’re wired differently."
Moreover, functional neuroimaging studies have revealed that "the brains of introverts and extraverts light up differently when stimulated in the same way."
"Christine Fonseca was doing some interesting research that seemed to show that dopamine is more active in the brains of extraverts, and the motivation it provides is linked to external rewards; things like promotion, public recognition and status," Rawbone added. Meanwhile, introverts derive more pleasure from the 'feel good' factor rather than external rewards.
But when it comes to human personality, things are not as black-and-white. This theory doesn’t simply divide people as being either introverts or extroverts, but rather offers a continuum where everyone can fit somewhere along it.
"At each end of the continuum there will be pure, or what I call classic introverts and extraverts, and in between, we’ll have the 5 types of extraverted introverts, and the numerous blends, and there will be the 5 types of introverted extraverts, and the associated blends." If you’re interested in learning more about your personality, Rawbone has created a questionnaire that helps people find out their unique introvert type.
Moreover, there’s the idea of being an ambivert, a person who has a balance of both in their personality. But Rawbone pointed out that some people mistakenly believe it refers to them. Instead, "the term applies to those who are equally charged by being quiet and reflective and by being stimulated by any noisy company."
"As an extraverted introvert, I love being with certain people who I can have generative conversations with, and provided I’ve had the chance to precharge my batteries sufficiently. But there always comes a time when my mental & social battery runs out which is when I slip away, mostly unnoticed. My true friends know this about me and understand. If I were an ambivert, my battery wouldn’t deplete, no matter where I was, or who I was with," Rawbone opened up about her experiences.
