
If you want to get everything done, leave an introvert alone - peteforde
http://hackertourism.com/leave-an-introvert-alone
======
kyllo
I really think it's as simple as this:

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."

~~~
visakanv
I used to strongly define myself an extrovert because I can be loud,
gregarious and I'm passionate about great conversations- but I also hate large
crowds and large parties.

I'm okay with meeting new people if it's a relatively small setting of 4-5
people. Otherwise it's usually a waste of time.

Now I don't know how to define myself.

I get energized by doing energizing activities and being around energizing
people, and I get drained in the opposite. I used to play in a rock band and I
enjoyed entertaining crowds- and that was simultaneously energizing and
draining, in separate spheres.

I suppose it can be useful initially to identify as one or the other, but as
you really begin to feast on your life you start to realize that life is far
too complex to be binary.

~~~
sillysaurus
_Now I don't know how to define myself._

Perhaps you're a person, rather than a label.

~~~
aaron695
>Perhaps you're a person, rather than a label.

Or maybe labels are ok until some singularity style computer can know exactly
what each individual is and how to exactly optimise their happiness maybe the
approximations labels give us make us better off.

When used correctly they can allow us to better know ourselves and also be
more understanding of those around us.

------
wisty
Myres Briggs was not based on science, but Jungian pseudo-science. It's since
morphed from an interesting theory (which happened to be mostly incorrect) to
a pop-culture superstition.

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.

~~~
ukapu
Similarly I think there's a tendency to paint extroverts as being lacking in
'book-smarts'. Of course, anyone who has ever read a Richard Feynman book can
tell you that's not the case.

~~~
pixl97
_Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear
bright until you hear them speak?_

With an introvert you can only assume their level of incompetence. An
extrovert will gladly extol the level of his ignorance.

------
visakanv
"get everything done"

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. :(

------
pathdependent
I'm not sure I'd end by signing "the people who designed the hardware,
software and network infrastructure you're reading this on," but I do know the
feeling.

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.

------
Killah911
"the people who designed the hardware, software and network infrastructure
you're reading this on"

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.

------
laichzeit0
One thing that really grates me as a more-introverted-than-not person is the
modern Open Plan Office.

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).

~~~
InclinedPlane
Open plan offices suffer from a few very difficult to fight effects. One, a
lot of people think they are great for "collaboration". Often this is because
they have collaborated successfully in some way in the past in open plan
offices and imagine that there would be no way to achieve the same level of
collaboration with a different office plan (classic "post hoc ergo propter
hoc" fallacy). Two, it's currently very popular and hip, especially in the
tech. community. It feels more informal and less "old business" so a lot of
startups and companies that want to project a youthful image adhere to it.
Three, it's often significantly cheaper than offices.

When taken together you end up in a situation where open plan offices become
the de facto choice and where fighting against them is a huge uphill battle.

------
tterrace
The first sentence alone should be enough to ward people off from reading this
post.

~~~
gee_totes
Yeah, it's really a bit of a strained analogy. It's not like there's been a
long running history of discrimination and objectification of introverts... or
that introverts make 70 cents to the dollar that extroverts make.... or that
introverts aren't allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia....

------
chrysred
I don't know if I am an introvert or if I just have poor (awkward) social
skills (?)!

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.

------
tsunamifury
Ive worked with introverts who are mean, judgemental bitter people who call
all the work that gets them paid "wasting time" while they code in circles
imagining their products are consumed due to their own greatness.

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.

------
aaron695
I wonder why looking for a idea on the actually percent of people in each I
can't find any idea on what it actually is on the interwebs, they all differ
and top results aren't seeming to link peer review articles.

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.

------
argumentum
Can one not be "introverted" when he wants to be alone, and "extraverted" when
he wants company?

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.

------
stared
For me it was kind of ironic - a post on introversion followed by... an
invitation to talking on Twitter.

[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.]

------
maxflat
This is a major reason why I hated working at Thoughtworks. They act like
introversion is is a disease that needs to be cured in order to be an
effective developer. Fuck that, I just need time away from people to recharge.

------
CurtMonash
When introverts and extroverts are in the same family (or romantic
relationship), there can easily be enough drama to justify the tone of the
post.

Beware of mixed marriages.

~~~
parfe
Do you also recommend that a Taurus should avoid Libras?

~~~
CurtMonash
Only in the context of Battlestar Galactica.

------
touristtam
"we're not allergic to people — just ones that are uncomfortable in silence".

that alone.

------
emilydrennan
I recommend fixing the typo on the picture. It is distracting.

------
endgame
Yay more introvert elitism. HN is running like clockwork.

~~~
nollidge
As an introvert, I have to agree that this kind of back-patting has gotten
eye-rollingly ridiculous. We aren't the fucking Ubermensch.

------
PAULHANNA84
Being an introvert is soo cool these days. Sometimes I try and act like one at
start-up meetings so people can assume I have great ideas! hahah j/k. I would
consider myself a hybrid! :)

