An introvert in an extroverted world
On a drive one sunny day my not-yet-wife thought it would be fun to give me the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular personality assessment based on the theories of psychology pioneer Carl Jung. She read me the questions and sorted me by the categories introversion/extroversion (I/E), sensing/intuition (S/N), thinking/feeling (T/F) and judgment/perception (J/P). I'm an INTJ: Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, Judging.
Apparently she saw nothing scary, but I could have told her I'm an introvert:
- Extraverts are action oriented, introverts are thought oriented
- Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge, introverts seek depth of knowledge
- Extraverts prefer frequent interaction, introverts prefer substantial interaction
- Extraverts get energy from spending time with people, introverts get energy from spending time alone
That's me.
This surprises people considering my occupation. Journalistic types get most of their information from people, which means communicating—a lot: interviews, telephone calls, voicemails, emails, camping out in front of offices, "chance" meetings on the sidewalk…whatever it takes to get the story by deadline.
Actually a lot of writers are introverts; otherwise, we think, we'd be singers, dancers and actors. The Internet and social media are boons to introverts. On email and Facebook I can act that mix of Humphrey Bogart and Bugs Bunny that is my dream self. Only in the real world am I more a collision of Stan Laurel and Daffy Duck.
So introverts of the world, arise! Web 2.0 calls you to your place at the dinner party of life. We'll show ‘em who's not shy.
Who's first?