Networking and solitude

Social networking for the introvert requires a fine balance. Last weekend CBC Radio ran an intriguing segment on introversion and social media (sorry, I don't remember the program). The researcher interviewed pointed out that tools such as Twitter don't serve us best by constant immersion. Even employers have begun to recognize some people require solitude. Everyone benefits when introverts are given the time and space they need to bring their good gifts to fruition.

In Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology, David Abram suggests the internet provides a valuable opportunity for connection and global communication about ideas. We can interact with like minds, however this does not genuinely satisfy our need for community. For that, he states, we must resort to more traditional spaces and opportunities, connected by oral communication and vitally rooted in the Earth.

Introverts need community as much the next person, but we also need self time to reboot and recreate. We also need acceptance of this from the people in our lives. Indigenous communities allowed shamans to live on the edge of society, regarding these people with both fear and respect for their ability to heal and gain insight from the cosmos.

At times I have felt overwhelmed by the necessity to interact and keep up with numerous online relationships. Although we engage in isolation from our laptops and study carrols, this is not the rich solitude we need—time alone with ourselves. We can easily burn out. In confusion and frustration, I have withdrawn for months at a time, but this is not the solution for me. I need connection, too.

Real community requires face-to-face time with people who act and think diversely. Only in this arena can we deepen our experience of peace and constructive co-operation in this complicated world. I suggest that for emotional health the introvert needs only this variety of human action, properly balanced with time alone.

However, the internet can enrich us if we keep it in perspective. I see it as a watering hole where I come to drink and interact with other creatures, or better as a river. When I dare dip into the swiftly flowing current of ideas and feelings, I feel inspired and provoked. I need to take just a little of that away with me, to walk and rest. I need to go hug my lover, hang out with my friends, or buy produce from friendly strangers at the farmers' market. I need to interact with these ideas and put them to work. I need to write.