It is past time we jettisoned the useless false dichotomy of introversion vs extroversion and just accepted that everybody has a minimum amount of social interaction, failing which, they get really weird.  And everybody has a maximum amount of social interaction, exceeding which, they get really weird.  These levels are different for everyone, for a variety of reasons, and have no moral dimension.

And that is all.

— Radicarian

 

Nice.  To which we can add that these amounts can and do vary throughout our lives.  Sometimes they even vary day by day.  They are also highly context dependent.   And also dependent on whom the interactions are with.

Above all, though, is that last bit.  Dispensing with the basis for stigmatization.  Forgoing the chassis of good/bad.  We can listen, rather than impose.  We can be with someone, rather than interact with caricatures.  Especially valuable since where on the scale at any given time is so mutable – even for people we know well.

Always great to be reminded that gradients are a thing and are normal, and we don’t need to sort things into discrete opposites.  Also a great chance to revisit this post about average heights that illustrates this so well.