Dammit, I’ve finally grown tired of it–! No! Bad Internet, Bad!

The words “introversion” & “introvert” don’t mean what 90% of you apparently think they mean and most of those articles are severely uninformed. In an impressive maneuver, combining ignorance and conflation, a large portion of the interwebs seem to have collectively confused the introvert with their overly-romanticized image of the “lone wolf” and the “sensitive artist.” Introversion has nothing to do with art and little to do with independence, though anyone (including introverts) may possess these character traits. The terms “introversion” and “extroversion” were popularized by Jung and have since undergone a fair deal of revision and criticism — but whichever way you slice it, the last article you read on the topic of introversion was probably a steaming pile of — anyway. It was probably written by a self-identified introvert-blogger to whom the concept is an important, though perhaps misapplied, part of their identity. Introversion and extroversion have to do with *the way people expend energy.* Try using this simple analogy:

Let’s substitute energy (feeling of liveliness, resources, etc.) with money. An introvert *makes their money in private* and spends that money when they are in social situations. When they run out of money, they must go back to being alone to make more energy-money. An extrovert actually *makes money in the company of others,* which they then spend while they are alone. If they run out of energy money while they are alone, they start to feel agitated and feel the need to go talk to people or otherwise engage in social situations to replenish their resources.

Now, as you can see, this doesn’t actually have anything at all to do with the character type of the “lone wolf” or the “sensitive artist” or whatever — an extrovert who has managed their energy levels well could very well be seen as a “lone-wolf” type; they enjoy being alone and so they allot their resources accordingly. Conversely, an introvert could be a social butterfly if they want — periodically, they will have to revisit their quiet places but this doesn’t mean they can’t really enjoy parties and love to talk for hours on end. Introversion and extroversion don’t necessarilly indicate our preferences in this regard. It’s only the stressed-out, overworked introvert that “simply MUST be alone,” and it’s only the depleted extrovert that concentrates the life of the party into themselves like some kind of social black-hole. Now, the stereotypes MAY be true in many individual cases and this is a rich and subtle *spectrum,* not a two-party system — and there are many, many variables that affect character traits and personality. Intro and extroversion are merely two important ones, among others. So try not to invest too much of your self-image in being an “introvert,” if indeed you are — because this does not guarantee that you’re going to be a cool, lonely poet, sitting in the corner of the cafe (like me! yay!), nor does it secure your place among the tragic, outsider-artists. It actually has nothing to do with any of that — it’s mostly useful as a tool to help you manage your time, priorities, and energy levels more effectively.

PRO-TIP: If being recognized by others as an introvert gets you high, you’re probably not an introvert. Sorry.