I took The Marriage Plot with me on our recent holiday, thinking that nine-hours in a plane each way would be ample time to knock it over (Eugenides’s style, among his other talents, I find, is a true pleasure – consequently I read faster). However, I forgot the biggest temptation: in-flight movies, and there were some nice choices. So! I didn’t get much time, except in the hospital, when that was the last thing I felt like doing. I’m about halfway through, but it got put down in favour for Quiet.
I stumbled across Quiet in the Hong Kong International Airport, and it has barely left my side since. Because of the plain white cover, and the fact I am brutal with books, it is already absolutely filthy, but I’m going to notch that up to its well-loved status.
Here’s a quote that made me sit up:
Studies have shown that, indeed, introverts are more likely than extroverts to express intimate facts about themselves online that their family and friends would be surprised to read, to say that they can express the “real me” online, and to spend more time in certain kinds of online discussions. They welcome the chance to communicate digitally. The same person who would never raise his hand in a lecture hall of two hundred people might blog to two thousand, or two million, without thinking twice. The same person who find sit difficult to introduce himself to strangers might establish a presence online and then extend these relationships into the real world.
And Susan Cain herself on the subject at TED:
Friday’s post brought up in a roundabout, oblique way some of the things I’ve been thinking about lately regarding how I blog, but what I didn’t mention was how I’ve also think about how that applies in a wider context: if the claims are true that bloggers are feeling like their voices are being drowned out because newer ‘louder’ (read: extroverted) voices are coming along; that comment numbers are down in posts, but rising in social media references/replies – and if this is the case are we commenting in forums where more people are more likely to witness the exchange? What does that say about the comment itself (or the commenter, for that matter)?
Bottom line, if the internet realm was once a platform for the more introverted personalities to utilise, as the quote above suggests, and, for some, this is being threatened, then the rise of such movements as Facebook quitting, or ‘slow blogging’, among others, is somewhat explainable.
If (yes, I’m aware I’m speculating a whole lot) this all occurs, how does the introvert deal with the situation? I’m still working on it. Yes, I would describe myself as an introvert, and the Briggs Myer test I’ve done says the same. Does this mean I’m shy? No. Quiet, yes. Sensitive? You bet. This has never really bothered me (although at times it has), but I can see how it might make others uneasy.
Ergo, Quiet is pretty thought provoking!
I enjoyed Josephine Hart’s book, published after her death, for many reasons, but the biggest was in the afterword by her husband, Maurice Saatchi, where he talks about the app that had been developed to share the beauty and glories of poetry to the digital generation(s). I downloaded The Poetry App straight away – it’s free – and I’ve been enjoying it.
What are you reading this month?
