A lot of memes and thinkpieces would have you believe that introverted personality individuals and extroverts are at war with each other, but despite the annoyingly silly questions we actually have a lot more in common than we think.
A study from the University of Illinois determined that people who considered themselves introverts and extroverts actually spent about the same amount of time socializing and got about as much enjoyment out of spending time with people, suggesting that the difference may be in the type of social stimulation that people who describe their personality one way or the other prefer, or how they bounced back afterward.
Others feel that we put way too much stock in whether we’re introverts or extroverts in the first place, treating them as fixed, mutually exclusive decrees, when many of us fall somewhere in the middle and would say that we behave more like an introvert or extrovert depending on the situation.
It's not an anomaly to have some friends who you don’t mind sitting next to in the same room reading separate books, and others who make you feel like you need a nap after meeting them for coffee. And even the biggest party animal has some hobbies that they have to go home and get back to at some point, right? It shouldn’t be so hard for them to understand and respect that some people have different social batteries, so next time you get one of these stupid questions, you can tell them that.
If you’re not feeling that eloquent, though, if somebody asks you why you’re so quiet, you’re perfectly within your right to just pterodactyl screech in their face and see if that’s good enough for them.
