Introverts (Anand Pinnamaneni)
Primary Source: Andrew Ferguson, "Springtime for Introverts"
On March 26, 2020, author Andrew Ferguson wrote an article on a popular journalism website known as The Atlantic. Ferguson provides his personal opinion on how introverts are affected by the recent COVID-19 pandemic, however he is able to back up some of his points through citing a famous spokesperson on the subject.Fact Check Time
Even though most of Ferguson's article is his own personal anecdote, checking the sources he does borrow from is important to making sure that his claims and opinions aren't baseless.
Only recently has introversion been deemed a social force, thanks to the writer Susan Cain.
While it’s hard to trace his exact claim, Susan Cain is indeed a respected speaker on this topic, as can be partially proven by her appearance on TED. He heavily cites her throughout the latter half of his article, so pretty much all of the fact checks will be about her in some way.
Looking into it, it seems that King’s book wasn’t really focused on introversion. However that may not have been the point, as this sentence could also be interpreted as King paralleling Cain rather than being replaced by her. Interestingly enough, I found an article written by King talking about Cain’s book.As nonleader of a nonmovement, Cain replaced the late writer and memoirist Florence King, author of Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady.
“Introversion,” Cain wrote, “is now [considered] a second-class personality trait, somewhere between a disappointment and a pathology.”
This claim is mentioned in a Huffington Post article.
I didn’t have time to read her book, however this claim is echoed within the Harvard Magazine article about her.Her book was a catalog of the ways in which society is designed around the pleasures and benefits of the extroverted: open floor plans in the workplace, team-building exercises everywhere, office calendars that let the boss and co-workers track your every move.
Pretty bold claim, however it seems justified by the fact that Ferguson provides a direct link to an article supporting his point.As Cain points out, the world’s most introverted country, Finland, is also the world’s happiest.
Analytic Essay
Quiet Killer - The introverted perspective on COVID-19
Coronavirus’ effects on the world cannot be overstated enough, as it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. The daily lives of a majority of the world’s population has been drastically altered, due to the need for “quarantine” to prevent spreading the disease. In the face of all these changes, one thing that must hold up is the human psyche, and it’s no mystery that most people have different ways of interpreting their personal reality. Specifically, there is a clear difference in the way introverts and extroverts perceive and interact with the world. No matter what way you are, the radical shift towards being forced indoors is going to negatively affect almost everyone, as history has shown that humans are built to be social creatures. Looking into the perspectives of introverts during the outbreak has yielded different conclusions between various parties, and it turns out that it isn’t as simple as claiming that quarantine is easy for them.My primary source I looked at was from a news website known as "The Atlantic," where the author of the article was an introvert who shared his perspective on quarantining (Ferguson, 2020). He mostly thought of it as the societal dynamic between extroverts and introverts being flipped upon its head, since extroverts who went from being benefited greatly in social situations were now forced to "play catch up" towards the norm for introverts (Ferguson, 2020). He cites the book "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking" by Susan Cain (a notable figure in the subject matter), in order to back up his claims (Ferguson, 2020).
One of my secondary sources from the less notable website "Reuters" also looked at quarantine as a positive outcome for introverts (Bernstein, 2020). It looked at more than one testimony, most of them from introverts (Bernstein, 2020). Summarizing the contents, the people interviewed essentially documented their experiences at home post-coronavirus, and reported enjoying themselves through pursuing various hobbies and growing closer to those they live with (Bernstein, 2020).
Part of the Reuters article mentioned the word of Matthias Mehl, a University of Arizona psychologist (Bernstein, 2020). Mehl was featured in a UANews (University of Arizona News) article written by Alexis Blue (part of University communications), which went over the same topic (Blue, 2020). However in this instance, the article was actually against the idea that introverts benefited from the situation (Blue, 2020). The main point made by Mehl was that through social media, extroverts actually had an easier time getting around the social barriers presented from being forced to stay at home (Blue, 2020). While introverts have a lower need for socializing with other individuals, they still require it, and aren't nearly as good at it as extroverts whether or not coronavirus exists (Blue, 2020). He actually specifies how the phrase "social distancing" isn't as accurate in today's technological era, and that the saying "physical distancing" would make more sense (Blue, 2020).
This point is supported from an article by MIT Technology, where they also tried to go over the struggles of being an introvert in quarantine (Ohlheiser, 2020). The MIT article also took a closer look at the social lives of extroverts and how they're affected currently (Ohlheiser, 2020). Something interesting mentioned was that due to the lack of excuses now, it has become more difficult for introverts to avoid taking calls from clingy friends (Ohlheiser, 2020). Along with this, the requirement to participate in video chats for most young adults is another part of what makes it difficult, since you're being constantly forced into intricate and serious conversations (Ohlheiser, 2020).
Although it may seem that the only thing that these multiple perspectives apply to is introverts, looking at the effects of quarantine on this specific group can provide a greater look into how coronavirus may be affecting those who aren't as introverted. Since everyone who lives within a country that is practicing social distancing is affected, it's accurate to say that almost everyone is going to be in this together. What's more important than who has an easier time between the two is looking at the different outlooks that are presented. We see from all four articles together the pros and cons of having an introverted personality within pandemic conditions, but this also gives us a greater look into introverts' roles in general society as well. What I mean by this is that they may be more inclined to keep towards themselves, but that in of itself can present its own set of pros and cons, which we partially see within the COVID-19 pandemic.
You may ask why all of this concerns the general population, but it's better to view it as how one subgroup being affected can make a statement on society as a whole. One way to look at it is now that quarantine is heavily enforced in most countries, introverts’ stereotype of commonly staying inside now technically applies to nearly everyone. Going back to the primary article, the world has essentially been turned upside down, and many of the behavioral patterns exhibited by introverts may be helpful for others to try and emulate or take note of in order to help cope with quarantining (Ferguson, 2020). Assessing how people can adopt certain strategies to help deal with the present situation is what's going to help everyone get through the forced lack of social contact nowadays, and looking at the perspective of introverts is definitely capable of gaining more insight into this process.