Although you can’t like everybody—and not everyone will like you—if liking someone is hard and hating is easy, you just may be a misanthrope.

Misanthrope comes from the Greek “misein Anthropos,” which roughly translates as “to hate people.” As the name implies, misanthropes have a general disdain for human interaction, and deal with other humans in either a fight or flight reaction: they either avoid people, or confront them with annoyance.

Since kindergarten, one of the important life skills taught to us is how to make friends and behave kindly, so that others will like us. However, growing up and experiencing human interaction can produce good and ugly results. Oftentimes, it is the bad experiences that will give the lasting impression that influences whether or not you’ll hate the idea of dealing with people.

Understanding the misanthrope

To be fair, misanthropes are not bad people, nor are they loners who lack the company of friends. Antagonistic? Yes. Typically, they do have friends—most likely misanthropes themselves, who share the same disgust of the general populace.

An interesting theory is that hating people is a natural reaction to other people’s deplorable behavior. In other words, misanthropes are brutally honest in recognizing other people’s idiocy and pretentiousness, and do not hesitate to point it out—usually in front of them and without regard to the concept of “being nice.” They are antagonistic towards people and their unfavorable behavior, because those people think that what they’re doing or saying is just fine—when it is not.

#1 Misanthropes generally have more sense than the people around them. Ask a misanthrope why they hate people and their first answer is usually, “Because other people are idiots.” This doesn’t mean that they are genius, intellectual snobs who look down upon an IQ below 90; if you check the content of social media, you would understand the reason for their seemingly allergic reaction to the avalanche of nonsense and inanities that preoccupy humanity nowadays.

#2 Misanthropes dislike drama. Interacting with people means that you’ll have to partake in their lives in some way. That includes their problems, frustrations, and the drama that comes with them. For misanthropes, there are far more important and meaningful things to do than put up with people’s rants and whines that they’d rather complain about than actually deal with.

#3 Misanthropes are most likely introverted people. It means that their personality leans inward, away from others. Misanthropes are introspective, bordering philosophical, people who have a very different perspective on life. That’s the reason they have little interest in the art of socializing: misanthropes like their personal space full of calm and silence, and hate people if they intrude in their “zone.” [Read: Easy dating advice for introverts – 19 tips and tricks]

Signs that you are a misanthrope, yourself

Now that you understand misanthropy, use these 10 signs to determine whether you are, in fact, on the misanthropic side.

#1 You love the Internet. Because with the internet, you can watch movies, do your work, shop, and be entertained without having to deal with people physically. However…

#2 You rarely visit social media, if you’re interested in social media at all. The idea of socializing with people without having to stand near them should be appealing to you, but with your level of antipathy, you’ve unfriended more people than you’ve accepted—if that’s even possible at all. If you’re on Facebook, your favorite buttons would be unfollow, unfriend, and report abuse. Your means of online interaction would be your old email address, which you will only give to a chosen few.

#3 You can’t stand kids. Children are like adults, only less inhibited and, oftentimes, more self-centered. Not good news for a misanthrope who can’t even stand dealing with adults. Being invited to your friend’s children’s party is the perfect Stephen King-ish nightmare for you, and hearing all the cries, whines, and high-pitched shouting makes you want to go violate child abuse laws.

#4 You have little tolerance for small talk. Your idea of an ideal conversation is something answerable by yes or no. You also have a sentence limit—anything further, or if the conversation starts to get uninteresting, gives you the urge to flee with your ears covered. [Read: How to make small talk without getting bored or feeling awkward]

#5 Reunions are not your thing. When reunions are mentioned, other people usually worry about what to wear, or what gifts to bring, if it’s a family affair. Misanthropes, however, would be thinking of possible reasons or excuses to say no. If attendance is inevitable, you tend to move around more often, like a spy switching safe houses, to avoid unwanted attention or conversation.

#6 You have offended, and will offend people. Not because you’re a natural-born a-hole, but because you’re no-nonsense and blunt when pointing out how stupid ideas are. You’re either the Ron Swanson or Gregory House of your workplace, or the Red Foreman of family reunions. You are allergic to other people’s bullsh*t, and you’ll gladly go and mythbust their pretentiousness.

#7 You maintain a lot of personal space. You value the concept of personal space, and give anyone who breaches your 3-foot personal space radius a death stare. You would rather eat your lunch at your work station or outside than suffer the conversationalists inside the cafeteria.

#8 Your headphones are your best friend. Your head phones are like a big “do not disturb” flag above your head, and you wear them all the time when crossing hallways and riding the train to people-proof your day. And you also secretly want to murder anyone who makes the mistake of calling your attention to something, despite the big “busy” sign plugged into your ears.

#9 Your concept of recreation is an activity involving little to no people at all. You prefer a solitary cabin in the woods instead of a crowded beach, or a hike in the mountains instead of touring a city. Other activities in your repertoire are playing video games, reading a book at home, and pretty much anything that does not require other people.

#10 Sarcasm is your language. Because there are times when other people won’t get your subtle hints at irritation, and you’d have to really say that they’re idiots in their face. Creatively. You basically have an on-off switch for sarcasm when conversing with people who spout nonsense. Aside from sarcastic, witty retorts, you have a collection of “meh”s, “tch”s, and “right”s to cap your sentences.

[Read: 10 signs to recognize selfish people and 5 steps to detach yourself]

Most of the time, it is easier to hate and avoid people than to try hard and find the reasons to like them. If you find that you are a misanthrope, that’s alright. As long as your sentiments are purely based on annoyance and not homicidal thoughts, own your misanthropy and rock on.