Ryan, in your reply to Karen (her response), you write, “I’ve found that overall, it’s extroverts that rely on technology to provide nonstop entertainment. Among commuters, especially, it seems that extroverts, who are incapable of amusing themselves without a lot of sensory clutter, are horrified by the thought of sitting alone in an airport or on a bus, etc. without somekind of constant stimulation until they can get back to the TV or the pub. Extroverts are particularly bored by their own company so must rely on music, game boys, and other diversions to pass the time.”

As somewhat of an extrovert, I’m not sure I follow this reasoning or agree with it. I am amazingly bored if I have nothing to do, say, when waiting in line or in a dentist’s office. I prefer to read something. Wanting to “do” something does not mean it has to be flashy lights and video games; but I don’t see that it means you are “bored with yourself”. This comment seems to imply a mature person is happy to sit and stare at the walls and amuse himself with his own imagination. Nonsense. And busy people whose time is at a premium do talk on the cell phone and make calls when possible–e.g., when driving, etc. If my wife is on the phone I will go ahead and make a call I need to make on my cell, so that when she is done my call will be done too, so we can spend time together. This seems perfectly rational to me. I’m not sure what it has to do with being an extrovert; it seems, to me, to be more correlated with being active and busy.

The Best of Stephan Kinsella

Ryan, your anecdotal remarks are spot-on, in my mind. I kind of see it this way…..I agree that it is extroverts that need constant entertainment to amuse them, because they cannot deal with “quiet time.” They always need other people around, the TV, interaction with frivolous games, or they’re on the cell phone, etc. Sometimes, even, they need constant confrontation with others – in the workplace or elsewhere – to chase away their boredom. As you said, they are bored with themselves.

But Sullivan does not “go there,” with his iPod analysis, as I had expected. If you look closely, he applies his critique in an odd sense, that is, he applies it to public situations where he thinks that others are void of proper interaction with *total strangers,* and instead, they shut themselves up in some world where exclusion from these folks is their new norm. After all, why bring up subways and airports as valid points of interaction, if civilized, social interaction is what he is trying to point out? Either place is almost akin to socializing in the airport lavatory. (Only women do that, and in nightclub lavatories.)

I think he just got a bit turned around, and lost his sense of direction and where he was going with the piece. But perhaps he is talking about extroverts whose extroversion is being complicated and segued by a new form of “annoying” extroversion. Perhaps? I dunno, the piece is odd.

For me, the most annoying form of constant amusement/entertainment/stimulation for the extroverts is the mass adaptation of the cell phone as the cure-all for quiet time and being alone. But that’s a whole ‘nother post…

The Best of Karen De Coster