A number of bloggers—Jason Kotke and Dori Smith among them—have pointed with knowing nods to Jonathan Rauch's Atlantic piece on Caring for Your Introvert, which opens with a question: Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate?
It's been said that extroverts recharge by being around other people, introverts recharge by being alone, and when they meet, the extroverts walk away energized and the introverts head home to collapse. So where does blogging fit in this scheme?
The Blogosphere is crawling with extroverted pundits eager to talk with the whole world, simultaneously if possible. But there also are plenty of blogs that bubble along quietly, written for an audience of one if that's how it plays out. Does that leave introverts caught in an extroverted blog world? Maybe not.
In some ways, blogging combines IM and email, the first seemingly made for extroverts and the second a godsend for introverts who remember how ringing phones used to keep us from getting any real work done. For extroverts, blogging becomes insta-blogging with my blog talking about your blog talking about my blog while we both sit at a conference dias. Oh, it's just so energizing!! For introverts, blogs often serve as silicon journals where the ebb and flow of news and lives can be observed and reflected upon. Where links and trackbacks help staunch the rush and drag of the hours.
Breath mint or candy mint? Blogs are none of and all of the above.
12:08:53 PM 
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