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Comment by abvdasker | Hacker News Reader

I've always felt that the introvert/extrovert dichotomy is such an oversimplification that it fails to be useful as a form of categorization. The degree to which someone is outgoing vs reserved is highly context dependent: maybe an individual is extraverted in their personal life but more restrained in a professional environment. Measuring these things is also so subjective that much of this is just a wash. Pieces of business-pop psychology like this one seem mostly designed to tell their audience wants to hear with just enough of an edge to provoke engagement.

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Being introvert vs extrovert is not about how one acts in social situations but whether one finds social situations draining or giving energy.

For some introverts that translates into avoiding social activity, but that is by no means a given.

I like many social situations and can be outgoing and animated in the right context, but no matter how much I might enjoy that, it is still exhausting to me, and that is what makes me introverted. I need solitude to recharge.

In this classification, it begs the question, do extroverts feel drained and demotivated when not in social contexts?

I think that's generally the idea. Extroverts drain their "battery" in isolation and recharge in social settings.

I wonder if that's the case... I'd consider myself an extrovert, but when I'm alone I don't really feel drained or anything, just kind of at peace and doing my thing. And when I'm with others I just get extra excited and motivated, I guess I do need other people once in a while to tell about what I've been doing or working on "when alone" to keep myself motivated, but that's about it, I never really get a feeling of exhaustion or needing to "recharge".

This is how I feel about most categorizations. I did some research the other night about problems with categorization, but surprisingly couldn't find much.

While categorization is good for quick communication, it usually abstracts too much. Rather than category, we should see things as types? Maybe this is one in the same?

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