I’d get bored after the first 2. But I like doing or making things alone.
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I’ve always likened it to being like cats compared to dogs (not cat people vs dog people). Like cats, we just can’t handle the constant input that drives dogs. We need an effing break from them sometimes.
That said, isn’t it funny how much kegger parties resemble dog parks?
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Indeed. I spend the majority of my waking hours alone, but almost none of that is sitting quietly like they describe in the article. I do things.
In fact, I don’t know how much time alone would be too much for me. I haven’t reached that point, ever. A piece of paper and a pencil? A crochet hook and some yarn? A book? Some plants? A small number of smooth stones? The view out of a window? My own hair? A little room to walk around? Any of those would be enough to keep me occupied on my own for a lot longer than 15 minutes, no devices needed.
I’ve always thought of introversion vs extroversion as more of “which gives you energy, being with people, or being alone.” Boredom doesn’t give me energy, but not having to worry about other people’s wants / needs / attention / whatever…that is rejuvenating.
Looking at extroverts, it’s almost like they have a (metaphorical) place where others can pour in energy. Or, for some specific individuals, they are like a vacuum for energy, taking it whether you want to give it or not. I don’t have that, for me, it’s a one way valve where I can put energy out, but can’t receive it. Or I have a deficit where I can’t absorb external energy, it just gets all over me but won’t soak in. All I can do is stop me from pouring out, and let myself fill back up from my internal well.
Edit to add:
On reflection, I’m guessing that many people must have valves that can go in both directions, right? Fuck, valve is a bad metaphor for something like this. My brain is done.
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“We were going to let them bring a book, but they kept telling us they weren’t done and to leave them alone instead of filling out the questionnaires.”
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I just tested it with Firefox both with and without adblock just to make sure I covered the bases, and wasn’t able to reproduce any flickers on the left. Without seeing it, I’d guess it might be related to the “you may also like” feature, but for whatever reason I’ve never experienced any flickering on that site.
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I’m extremely confident in my abilities to amuse myself in most situations, but since the description makes it seem like just about anything would be considered an “activity”… yeah, I like doing stuff alone, not sitting around alone doing nothing!
Also, I feel like they even undermined that weak idea with the note that the introverts “did experience fewer negative thoughts”.
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The above is what I was responding to. That actually gave me pause. (Paws?) I’m still trying to figure out if I agree with the analogy or not. It has definitely made me ponder.
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How the frakking frakking frakking frak can “role model” be a personality type?
Isn’t the idea that people should be able to find some other people and say “I can do that” or “I can be like that”? But if only people from one specific personality type can be role models, then only people from that personality type can have role models.
… Also, all four types are for extroverts.
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That’s clearly because all the introverts are sitting around by themselves doing nothing.
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I thought the quote from one of the authors about “lumps in the batter”, explains that well. Combined with the line in the abstract about algorithmic sensitivity and limitations, it’s clear that there aren’t four personality types - there are four that are discontinuous enough with respect to surrounding personality types to be detectable.
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The article doesn’t really go into it, but the way it was described in the actual paper there were 3 studies and the first 2 weren’t like that, they were just generally asking about feelings during and reasons for people’s alone time. The 3rd study was primarily to determine where people’s thoughts went when sitting in solitude alone with their thoughts:
possibly leading to positive processes like self-reflection, creativity, or problem solving
[…] However, solitude can also lead to […]
negative self-focused thoughts like […] feeling of isolation, rumination, worries, experiential avoidance or suppression, and paranoia
Among the results was:
introverts completed more days of solitude activity. While we did not predict this, this finding provided indirect support that introverts may show a preference for solitude. […] Those high in introversion reported less negative thoughts during solitude
[…] Other interesting effects that were not hypothesized also emerged. Notably, the presence of others when individuals were meant to be in solitude predicted more negative thoughts and less enjoyment.
And the final line of the conclusion seems a bit self-evident:
to the extent that individuals are compelled by guilt, anxiety, or avoidance rather than approaching experiences with self-reflection and interest, they will find solitude an unpleasant experience, and derive little enjoyment from time spent alone.
Back on the idea of doing nothing for 15 minutes, I find it interesting that almost 13% of the people immediately dropped out of that 3rd study and 85% didn’t do the complete 7 days. Along with some of the comments here, I see that as reinforcement that we’re living in a world where we’re always expected to be doing and interacting, and we’re losing the ability to spend time on contemplation.
Personally, I don’t know how much it would take for me to get bored, but it would be significantly more than 15 minutes. I like contemplation time for
- Reflecting on things that I’ve learned recently and how they might connect to others or what the implications of them might be.
- Thinking about my accomplishments for the day or what I hope to accomplish.
- Thinking about possible solutions to upcoming problems.
- Reliving pleasant memories from the past.
- Observing nature and taking in the sights, sounds, smells.
- Making up stories in my head to entertain myself, or planting the seeds for dreams I could dream tonight.
- Just relaxing, loosening up, and letting stress go.
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Have they fried any bacon in it yet?
#baconfatjar
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We’re getting all sorts of ancient foods recently — hard tack from the 1800’s, 3200 year old cheese, beer from who knows when, now this. Let’s party!
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The hunter-gatherers probably drank it all.
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Archeologists have uncovered a prehistoric sample of junk-type food.
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/twinkie-maine-40-years/story?id=40076223
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