… and yet some of us are still very much that way.
The notion that introverts are people who do not speak up, people who prefer to be loners, people who are afraid of speaking to another person…they’re all negative. I get that to make our way in the world, there are times that we have to actually talk to people. But this is getting a bit out of hand. Or is it?
Online communities have often expressed just how difficult it is to be an introvert, whether it’s in the form of comics or pictures. Memes in particular are amazing as they succinctly express the situation that someone might have gone through. To be able to understand what a complete stranger has experienced; that is the wonder of the internet. There have been comics that depict how introverts are wanting to be alone and to just enjoy that time. They know that’s how they are in life, and laugh at it. And sob at it. As much as I enjoy reading these comics, I feel that introverts are overly stereotyped.
Lecturers often prefer students who speak up in class and these students indirectly become teacher’s affections, for the lack of a better term. Almost every employer out there wants someone who actively engages in meetings and being a team player. Some people even look for extroverted traits as a requirement in their significant other! What introverts are left with are the “bottom” of the pack; we’ve basically become the bottom feeders of the vast ocean that is society.
Because people kept emphasizing the importance of speaking up, it leaves out the introverts completely. People who are unable to make their way in the world by default are people looked down by others. NEETs (Not in Education, Employment or Training) want to contribute but don’t know quite how when the system is rigged against them.
What else is there to do if the world expects nothing from you? You waste time online, relating to people with similar interests. You immerse yourself in another reality because this reality rejects you. No matter what others might say, you just do that because it’s not like they’ll readily accept you as you are.
Eventually, we don’t hear anything about introverts. We don’t know what they might be doing, or how they are doing because we don’t care. The world has become the judge of what we do and what we think. As we wander around in the eternal blackness that is space, we need to ask ourselves if we are okay with making people feel like they don’t belong.
Because I am not okay with that.
about random ideas and thoughts 