Debunking the concept of “introversion”

Growing up, there’s always this notion that you’re either an introvert or an extrovert. Usually, though not expressed explicitly, there’s always this negative connotation associated with being an introvert. You’re “shy”. You’re NOT the most active kid. You can’t “social” or “be popular”.

I grew up being told I’m an introvert. When there’s a family gathering, there are always these adults saying on behalf of the quiet me, “Oh, don’t worry. He’s shy.” “He’s an introvert” “Right?” (looking at me). Then they would tap on my head.

First year in college, I gained a better insight into what this is all about. According to one of my classes on management & psychology, introvert uses energy to interact with other people, whereas extrovert gains energy from other people when interacting. Therefore, it is normal that introverted people would refrain from interactions, ending up being labeled as “shy.”

However, this whole “energy” theory doesn’t make a lot of sense after a while. What exactly is that energy you’re talking about? It’s not energy in the Physics sense. What is it? A “supernatural” energy transferred between people? Now it sounds like a religious scam.

My theory cross-references a term in Psychology called Highly Sensitive Person (HSP). Basically what the name implies, there are people who process much more sensory data, like smell, but also emotional reactions.

Now, I would put the scale of HSP and the scale of Introversion-Extroversion together to make sense of all this.

1. The more sensitive you are, the more emotional data you have to process.
2. You refrain from social interactions if you are overwhelmed by too much emotional data.
3. You can improve your emotional data processing.

Which is why some people grow up being less “introverted.” They’ve improved on their cognitive ability to process more data.

The reason why some people tend to get labeled as “introverted” as a kid lies in their ability to sense more from surroundings. A.K.A the sensitive kid. Every type of person he meets represents a new set of emotional data to be processed. As age goes, fewer unique sets of data require processing.

The flip side of having this ability to sense more data is that most data are probably trash. The equivalent of “processing trash” is thinking too much. There are a lot of things that simply cannot yield a reliable conclusion.

“Why has he not replied to my messages?” It could be anything. He might hate you, or he might have forgotten about it, or maybe he’s just sleeping, or perhaps somebody stole his phone. The point here is that the data points are not enough to make a conclusion. There are better ways to figure things out than simply thinking your head off, as with many other events in life.