Embracing Introversion: The Digital Advantage

We can interact but not in person

The other day I wrote about ‘grief shaming’ (a term I came up with to describe the greater societal penchant for inadvertently rushing people through grieving due to collective discomfort, as it’s not something most people want to deal with or confront).

But as an introvert, I find that’s another area in which we can be shamed, or made to feel bad about – that we are less because we are quieter, more withdrawn, more comfortable with being at the sidelines of life, observing rather than actively participating.

After all, the world seems to be designed for the extroverts, doesn’t it? At least with respect to careers and climbing…well, all the ladders there are to climb, it seems.

But there’s a place for us introverts now. Finally.

Thankfully modern communication is mostly done with our fingers, not our mouths. When was the last time someone actually called you, rather than just texted you? (or at a push, emailed).

Who even calls anymore?! The exception being if there’s an emergency, I guess.

I can hear introverts around the world breathing a sigh of relief at this modern kind of communication and conversation. We don’t have to interact with people face to face (or shudder over the phone – I hate, hate, hate the phone. Especially calling people! It can cause me major anxiety and it’s something I put off as long as possible.

But now, thankfully, we don’t have to call people, most of the time. We can hide behind the safety of our computer screens and take as long as we need to craft an email. Even if it might take an hour, you can hone your words to say exactly what you want – saving yourself awkwardness and perhaps stumbling over your words on the phone trying to get across whatever it is you’re on the phone for.

No one will know if it took you 1 minute or 1 hour to type up an email. It takes the pressure off. It relieves the anxiety.

Also, you don’t have to play phone tag. People will receive your email, in full, and be able to respond to it whenever they’re able.

Remember the awkwardness of leaving a voicemail? The fear of that beep on the other end signalling the answering machine was real.

And rarely did you actually spell out everything that you wanted to tell someone in a voicemail message. You probably gave a brief run down (or maybe even just said ‘call me back I have something to tell you’), and then you’d have to actually talk to them again later on. Ugh.

I mean, it would be different if it was a friend, of course, or someone else close to you (that you had a good relationship with anyway). But anyone else? Calling the TV company, the bank, the electricity company, the repair man, any other business. No x 1000.

And yes, I know sometimes we need to still call those people, but a lot of the time we can get support online (thanks online chat support staff and AI chatbots!). Phew.

With a big sigh of relief, I do think it’s leaning towards more of an introvert world now – even though that means more keyboard warriors, and people expressing their opinions when, before, as introverts in the ‘real world’ they probably wouldn’t. But with the anonymity of the online world and online communication, it’s fair game, and that’s where many of us introverts gain confidence we wouldn’t otherwise have – to criticize, to bait, to antagonize, to be all-round negative.

We all have access to virtual soapboxes now that a whole lot of communication is virtual and not in the real (physical) world.

Is that a good thing? Maybe. Maybe not. I dislike the amount of people who are just armchair critics of everything under the sun online – or at least it feels that way. That’s not to say their thoughts aren’t valid (or correct), but do we really need to disparage and dog-pile on everyone and everything?

And I know it’s probably not just introverts doing this. Extroverts are too. They’re also forced into this new introvert-centric world of online. Perhaps a lot of these negative nellies are extroverts still trying to ‘extrovert’ in a world that is leaning away from them.

I don’t know. That’s just me spitballing and guessing and just rambling now.

But it’s thought provoking to ponder.

What do you think?

Are you an introvert and do you embrace this new introvert-friendly way of life in the online sphere? Or are you an extrovert and maybe aren’t so comfortable in this space where you can’t physically interact with people as much.

And don’t forget to live with a dose of wonder.

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