I wrote this essay back while I was still going to college, we had to write about our personality types, specifically about Introversion and Extroversion. I generally don't like to write or talk about myself but I feel like this essay came out to be way deeper than just me or some assignment and I wanted to share it with everyone. Perhaps open some minds to a new perspective so to speak.
Introvert, a word usually associated with someone who appears to be antisocial, but is that necessarily the truth? To those unfamiliar to modern technology they view playing Video games and being on the computer as signs of being anti-social. Those who share these habits, they know its not nearly as antisocial as it would seem. For through the computer and Xbox I have met many people who I would more than likely have never met else wise. Some of the people who I’ve met have become very close friends despite never having met them in person. Perhaps it’s because we haven’t met in person that allowed us to become such good friends.
Of course I wasn't always lucky enough to have such good friends. When I look back at my early years I had very few friends. Even worse than not having friends I was bullied. The teachers wouldn't do much of anything and most of what they would do made things worse. Perhaps it was a Defense mechanism but I pretty much stopped caring about other people I focused on myself and school work. I always played Video games at home but it wasn't until High-school(7th grade in the Highschool anyway) that I got a Xbox 360 and learned about online gaming.
I never really thought about the social aspect of it, as a gamer I loved online gaming though. I added the few friends I had on it and played Halo 3. It was like that that I would meet many of my online friends just playing and having fun. Of course I also had started having friends and changing my personality to be more laid back. After a few months of playing I met my friend Zen/Jarrod I’ve known him since January of my 7th grade year. and despite never having met in person to this day were as close of friends as we would be if we did meet. Same for my friend ‘General’ (we didn’t know his name for 2 years and his online name went through variations of General_______) When he went away to Bootcamp we cared as if he were family and missed him the whole time he was gone. That's just my two closest friends online I’ve befriended many people , more than in person.
Though back to my closest online friends ‘General’ and Zen, ‘General’ lives outside of Chicago and Zen is in Arizona. I would never have met them without the internet, more specifically the Xbox. So I find it hard to believe that most of the time someone like myself is viewed as anti social by conventional thought. In a way I view my way of being social as much more social than conventional socialization. I’ve met people in different Cities,States, even countries whereas people through Socially acceptable socialization meet others in their general area.
So while it’s true that I spend my days at home rather than out and about. Though while I am physically alone i’m not truly alone. That said while someone may view me as being antisocial it is far from the case. I’m enjoying hanging out with friends despite not leaving my house. While I do have introvert type social preferences by no means does that mean i can’t or don’t speak with others. Perhaps I’m not an isolated case and that what if others have a similar experience to my own, and are wrongly labeled anti social or introverted?
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