The pandemic has made introverts into extroverts and vice versa

[MrsTerryPratchett]

Bear with me. Last night I thought I was going to get some alone time and didn't. I was very annoyed. I'm a massive extrovert but DH working from home means I am NEVER alone in the house. Never. Being forced into the house during the lockdowns has made me really want and need alone time.

I have introvert friends though who now try to be more social than they used to because being locked in the house has made them realise there's a limit.

I'm going to do a PhD and be famous.

No idea what you're talking about

Don’t understand the last line.

I think everyone needs a bit of a balance surely? Never being alone would be tiresome, as would never going out.

I'm just as much an introvert as I ever was. Coming out of the pandemic and seeing people everywhere has confirmed that nicely.

I think it's just people realising they need a balance either way.

I agree with your premise. I'm more aware that I need people and social activities now and an empty house sometimes. Please can you bring this out as a funny novel as I might not get around to reading the PHD paper.

Don’t understand the last line.

Changing persistent traits like introversion is not a thing.

Maybe it is balance but I see it as more than that. People who had to be winkled out of their space like snails now actually want to meet up and yesterday my very extrovert friend said, "just come round" because she didn't want to go out. She never does that (although that might be CoL).

I am much less introverted than I thought.

Snap.
I didn't go out before if I could help it but now? Actively avoid it, people are bonkers.

Maybe that's it. The proper extremes stay the same. But those of us who needed a little space or a little social interaction but got it always assumed we were extremes but actually aren't.

This is interesting because I've been thinking a lot about this... but I see it slightly differently.

I noticed during the pandemic the rise of what I call the "militant introvert": there was a real trend for "introverts" (some of whom are actually people with anxiety and grumpty sods styling themselves as introverts) to extoll publicly how much they hate other people, hate socialising, just want to remain in a cocoon with their family, resent having to smile etc.

It was really striking how many of these people seemed to have felt the pandemic "liberated" them from the hated extrovert society and the worm was turning etc, almost as if they were throwing off the yoke of extrovert oppression. Screeds and screeds of stuff about how awful sociable people are, how they are "empty vessels" etc. Some of it very understandable, some of it frankly quite unhinged and paranoid.

I kind of get how people who don't naturally feel drawn to social events may have felt the pandemic gave them relief from the pressure. That made total sense. But there was something quite toxic about a lot of it. A lot of people celebrating their reluctance ever to engage with anyone else outside their own household and their fear and hatred of people who wanted to engage with them.

I'm not sure that any of the people I know who fall into this category have become more outgoing. In most cases they seem just to have become more resentful about life going back to normal.

Erm... does nobody else feel like they've lived "normally" long enough for any pandemic-induced temporary changes in attitudes to have subsided? Pre-pandemic I used to work 3 days, cinema as a hobby, see family, DS was at nursery and all of those things have been happening since early 2021 (longer in the case of work/nursery).

I see your thinking, the extremity of the situation has made both groups adjust in the opposite direction a bit. Would probably make an interesting bit of research!

Yeah, while I still like to socialise in small doses, I hate crowds and lack of alone time more than ever.

In early 2021 we were still in strict lockdown, everything was shut and a lot of people kept small children out of nursery as well (about 1/3 of our nursery did). People young enough to have young children were vaccinated in late spring/summer. Do you mean early 2022, i.e. this year? Because yes, we've been back to normal since then - and it feels a bit weird that it's only been about nine months since I stopped avoiding indoor socialising.

I was introverted before the pandemic and even more so afterwards, it taught me how amazingly wonderful it is to not see anyone! I’d never really had the opportunity to live that way before.

does nobody else feel like they've lived "normally" long enough for any pandemic-induced temporary changes in attitudes to have subsided?

Which is why it's interesting now. You'd think everyone would just have gone back to normal. But I do t see that.

And yes on the militant introvert thing. I get that the world seems made for extroverts and that must grate a bit. But the vitriol was interesting. Real hatred when extroversion is just as much something we can't help as introversion is.

No, I don't. I WFH Jan and Feb 2021 but from March we were all back in work (financial services). I got my first jab March 2021. Cinema reopened May 2021 - we have annual passes.

Well, I’ve given up fantasising about having nothing to do, I’ll give you that much.

Really? No idea? It’s hardly a complex topic.

I give your PhD a gold star! I was definitely more of an extrovert before the pandemic, but since lockdown I’ve discovered that I love peace and solitude, and don’t need the social interaction I used to. It might just be that I’m older, but although I enjoy socialising to an extent I don’t crave it like I used to. I love the slower pace of life that comes with hybrid working now.

Hmm, I believe mostly people have reverted fully. Zoom family calls never stuck did they thank fuck.
Other socio-economic factors are now in play affecting socialising ie cost of living crisis.
But I’ve no doubt there are quite a few who have undergone personal epiphanies and indeed wholesale lifestyle changes eg moving to the country facilitated by WFH, jacking in an unfulfilling career because life’s to short etc

Makes sense to me. It has made people realise things because you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

And yeah, there were a few people who got weird and militant about it online.

I was an introvert before the pandemic and still an introvert now. General public piss me off. I go out to work, but generally like being at home most of the time.

I find the introvert/extrovert labelling people give themselves increasingly annoying. It’s a spectrum and we’re all on it. There’s no need to pigeonhole yourself.