Introvert or Extrovert?

[RK800]

Can't be sure if I'm an introvert, a 'suppressed and socially anxious' extrovert or if I'm just to busy with things besides people to care.

[moonmagegrl]

Extrovert, i love talking to people and spending time with them!! yes i do need alone time but that is usually because of my anxiety or i want to draw and i feel bad if i am not with the person. I can't live alone i need someone to live with me when i move out!!! i want a close best friend/zucchini. I may be aro ace but i enjoy having a companion! i talk just sooooo much i want someone who won't get sick of that and i tend to be clingy >.> . When i have a random thought i want to tell someone XD and affection is nice when it is from certain people in certain circumstances. I don't seek a sexual or romantic relationship but just a intense platonic one because i tend to want to nurture and cling to someone without worrying of being a bother to them, and i kinda have jealousy issues when someone i got a squish on gets in a romantic relationship and forgets about me ^^; I guess i just want someone to be loyal to me yah know? I do need alone days sometimes just to relax and finish drawing or watch something but i hate doing things on me own, i got a pool but i never go swimming unless i have someone to go with. Go going to the movies or for lunch on my own it is sooo boring argh. I talk tlak talk hug hug talk ect OH OH I LOVE SLEEP OVERS!!!!! ( with my besties)

I can relate part/most of that :)

[Zosia]

[trixyd]

I'm highly introverted with no drive or desire to be social, like most introverts I tend to find it draining. Thankfully I live and work alone with only occasional contact from other people which is just how I like it.

[Kisrah]

Totally an introvert. I prefer my own company and I can only be around people for so long before I need to get out of there. Parties and any kind of gatherings are huge no-nos and I hate crowded places, even if I don't have to interact with anyone.

[brightberry]

I'm quite introverted. I like to go hide at the end of a long day and woe be to those who disturb me.

[Grumpy Alien]

Introvert! I'm pretty friendly but I never initiate contact with someone I don't know/don't have to. I hate socializing. I hate meeting people. I hate parties. I love to be alone for long periods of time. I could happily stay indoors without stepping outside for weeks. In school, my friends referred to me as a hermit. I took it personally then but I've since adopted it as an explanation for why I don't talk or go out more. I find most people exhausting.

Here's me chilling in my shell:

[Guest]

re. introvert/extrovert is where you get your energy:

I definitely just *hate* being around other people because it's such an energy drainer for me lol. Its much worse in real life (just dropping my daughter off at kindy and picking her up again knocks me on my arse so bad that I have to sleep like 12 hours that night and then I'm *still* exhausted, it's taking a huge toll on me :() but even AVEN *really* takes it out of me (which I don't understand because I'm not really around other people, just making comments about my opinions on a forums but it still saps me pretty epically) ..I love writing, and the times I've done paid writing I've been really impressed with it and enthusiastic about it until the reader comments come in and then I'm just utterly drained haha.. it's like anything to do with other people just sucks the life right out of me, anything. I'm not antisocial exactly.. .. I mean, I'm pretty good at communicating and being friendly, but I have no friends in real life, because I just can't handle what having real life friends would do to me lol, it'd destroy me. Even just the thought of someone coming to my house for a cup of tea knocks me on my butt lol. I'm in a distance relationship, and wouldn't mind having my partner around because him and I are a lot alike etc, but we'd have separate rooms to hide in etc lol. I also have one or two online friends who I am intellectually close with, but it's not emotional. We're not upset if we don't talk to each other for long periods of time or anything.

And parties? Ugh.. Never. Never. Never. Even alcohol can't make parties any more bearable for me.

Its definitely safe to say I get my energy from being alone with my fantasy worlds haha. If I had it my way, I'd move into the deepest, darkest cave with books and some writing materials and just live there forever haha... that's my idea of heaven. Mmmm cave (*-*)

Boy, that sounds like me. I can relate to a lot of things you experience.

I'm a bit surprised, though, because from what you write on the forum I always thought you were more of an extrovert, Ficto. Maybe it's got to do with the discrepancy between written and spoken word? I also love to write and people who merely know me by reading my texts would never think I'm one of the biggest introverts on earth. You should see me in social settings where I have to interact with people I don't know ... I'm super cautious and taciturn, to say the least. But once I get to know someone better, I love to have long conversations with them. Still, even after meeting friends I feel quite drained and I have to 'recharge my batteries'.

Anyway, it's great to find people who feel the same! :)

I just saw this! better late than never haha. yeah I'm what one would call an extreme introvert.. a total hermit. I've lived in this area of the country since early 2009 and still don't know anyone by name :o .. I'm good at speaking online but yeah, that's just the way text is I guess?.. I'm also a good public speaker, I used to act on stage, but that was never personal. I never interacted with others on a personal level.. it was the stage itself, and the acting, that I loved. other people were just a prop in that.. not.. actual entities I could communicate with (yes I came across as a total snob haha) .. I'm just, well, what one would call a total loner weirdo I guess :p

[kiaroskuro]

I'm also a good public speaker, I used to act on stage, but that was never personal. I never interacted with others on a personal level.. it was the stage itself, and the acting, that I loved. other people were just a prop in that.. not.. actual entities I could communicate with (yes I came across as a total snob haha) .. I'm just, well, what one would call a total loner weirdo I guess :P

Okay, I don't like public speaking, but - what you just said about enjoying to act on stage, I can totally relate to this! I always loved being on stage; acting in a play or singing in a choir - once I even sang a solo in front of quite a large crowd - has never proved to be a problem at all, quite the contrary! I always wondered why I, the social recluse, enjoy acting so much. I guess it's because it allows me to slip into a role and I don't have to worry about being myself and relating to other people. I also don't have to hate myself afterwards for failing to show people the real me (whoever that is ^_^ ).

[Caehlim]

I'm extremely introverted, anytime I take a MBTI or similar test I always get the maximum possible score on Introversion. I also suffer from social anxiety.

Just remember that your results might get a bit biased by this being an online environment and a lot of introverts would be more comfortable interacting through the internet.

[Waist of Thyme]

Ambivert.

Sometimes I get really needy and talk just for the sake of talking. Other times, I want to lock myself in a high-tech building.

[leftradical]

Introvert, although most people who don't know me well assume I'm an extrovert since I'm consciously outgoing.

[Schrecken]

I am able to walk the line between the two extremes pretty well at this point in my life. For instance, I could spend a couple of weeks totally alone (not necessarily isolated from people, but alone in my thoughts and not actually conversing with anyone), like on a long vacation by myself and be totally happy. Or, I could go on the same vacation with a group of friends (being with them 24/7) and also totally enjoy it. I used to be far closer to the introvert side of things when I was a child, but I think a lot of that had to do with external circumstances, like being severely bullied in grade school. After all, who wants to try and socialize when all that happens is you get attacked.

Actually the only things that really define how much I can be around other people are my reactions to that which often goes along with being around lots of other people. For instance, if I had to live in a big city I'd go nuts pretty quickly, and it would have nothing to do with interacting with people per-se, but rather noise, lights, crowds, lack of open space, no access to nature, etc. Same thing if I am in a crowded place - just having to deal with noise and a lack of personal space and other people doing things that get on my nerves would do it. I can even be in a crowded grocery store and my blood will boil - not because of having to socialize but having to try and navigate around idiots who block isles with shopping carts and scream at the top of their lungs into their phones to some obviously half-deaf person on the other end of the phone line.

But as for pure socializing, just hanging out with others and shooting the breeze, I can do that for a long time day after day and not get tired of it. And I can also be happy not seeing another person for days.

[C8H7N3O2]

Definitely an introvert. I like being calm, alone from all the craziness that comes with being social all the time. I can't do the whole party scene and I get anxious if I'm around too many people at any one time. Always been the quiet one over there. It's not that I hate people.. It's that I hate people. I am an ISTJ afterall.

[Bob32]

From the other surveys that I have seen on AVEN and my reasoning, I would expect most people to say that they are introverts. Unfortunately because asexuality is not well known and the nature of the way people come across AVEN surveys such as this will be skewed. By nature introverted people will be more likely to turn to the internet then extroverts.

[belovedless]

I'm good at performing the stereotypical traits of what others think define an extrovert, but the truth is that I'm an introvert. I'd much rather stay inside, conserve my energy, and speak little unless it has to do with one of my interests.

Also, I don't think this thread will determine if the vast majority of aces are introverts or extroverts. Instead, it can help determine if aces who hang out in internet forums are introverts or extroverts.

[MaxAmoeba]

85-90% introvert.

[korik]

It seems like AVEN would be mostly introverts, since few of us even Leave AVEN. ;)

[Rising Sun]

I'm a quite shy ambivert. I like being with interesting people a lot, but unfortunately, I find most people really boring (or more exactly, their interests are horribly boring). So I seem like an introvert to most.

[divided_sky]

I'm not sure if I'm an introvert or a shy/quiet repressed extrovert with severe social anxiety.

Hmmm....

I've often wondered about that myself. I can certainly become extremely talkative when I am comfortable, but a lot of introverts can be chatty at times. As I grew older and social anxiety became less of a problem for me, I still found myself wanting to be a loner and finding most social situations tiresome.

[jimerman]

i am defiantly a introvert but i do force myself to act like an extrovert mainly to build social skills.

[Vestal]

Both equally.

[hekky1]

Extrovert most of the time, sometimes depending on circumstances falls into introvert.

[SkyWorld]

I put both equally. When I took some personality tests, they were both measured fairly very close to 50/50. Sometimes I like being alone, sometimes I actually like being in large groups. I just really like that in-between balance for me. ^_^

[Larkaloke]

I'm quite introverted. I need a good chunk of time being completely alone on any given day, although I do enjoy being around certain people (mostly just my family) for the great majority of the time. Being around people I don't know well, or don't know at all, drains me at a very high rate of speed. After I've done something requiring me to be around a lot of people (just finished a show, for instance, or had a lot of meetings recently), I'll often feel like I need to just hide from people at large for the next week or two. Vacations that involve crowds or cities tend to stress me out more than they relax me, which was occasionally a source of contention with my family when we all were going on vacation together when I was younger. I could be quite happy living out in the woods or mountains somewhere, far from civilisation, so long as I had certain comforts of civilisation with me.

I also have over-sensitive hearing and tend to be anxious in crowds, so it's possible that's where some of my general aversion to larger groups of people or dealing with people for a prolonged period of time comes from -- but I certainly feel better and more energetic when away from any but a select few people. I tend to get the most done when I'm completely alone.

[Flyaway4me]

Proud Introvert ^_^

[Guest]

Extroverted introvert. Shy, reserved, like spending time alone and reflecting, talking with most people drains energy. But like small groups and going places with and accomplishing a goal with said small groups.

[Xavy]

There are also ambiverts which are people like me who exhibit both traits of ambiverts and extroverts.

[dandelionfluff]

I am an introvert, but introvert =/= never wanting to socialize with people and always wanting to be alone. I have social anxiety but I still have the desire for companionship. But I just don't want to be around said companions all the time. I do enjoy some degree of socializing, but only to the extent that my energy level will allow.

[PastryBubbles]

I'm certainly introverted because of social anxiety, like dandelion. I crave positive interaction sometimes, but I also don't really want to do anything with someone else at all. When I've been with people for a while, I do get exhausted and feel like hiding somewhere.