# Introverts: How many days can you go without socializing?



## cudibloop (Oct 11, 2012)

Without feeling bummed out or anything? Just curious


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## firedell (Aug 5, 2009)

Are we on about in person socialisation? I call texting, phone calls, e-mails and IM-ing a satisfactory way of socialisation. 

I can go pretty much a couple of weeks without seeing people if I am caught up in a project. A few days if I have nothing in particular to do. The only reason I would feel bummed is if I have a valid reason to see someone.


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## DarthBismarck (Jan 30, 2013)

Excluding my roommate, simply because there is no choice in the matter, some of my closest friends get the occasional update e-mail from me two, maybe three times a year. I live about 1,200 kilometres away from them, but I try to at least see them around the holidays, schedules permitting. No one gets upset if one of us can't make it - two of them I haven't been face-to-face with in three years.


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## Herp (Nov 25, 2010)

12 hours. That's the most I can get before I get overly energetic and start having headaches and other discomforting bodily sensations.


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## Marek (Jan 14, 2013)

Nowdays I socialize every day beacause I go to work. When I was studying though I had longer periods of solitude and I could stay up to maybe two weeks without meeting friends.


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## Ocky (Feb 19, 2011)

Weeks/months, though i imagine i'd have to go out to get food or something at some point.


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## Cosmicsense (Dec 7, 2011)

Not sure that I'm an introvert, but in my case it really depends. I have a stress load which either builds up daily, else deflates a little. The higher the stress, the less likely I am to want to interact with strangers. If I must, I will do my best to not attempt to process everything I'm witnessing, and just let it flow through. I'll keep interactions to a minimum, and even still try to keep it with people whom are within my inner circle of trust. 

If my stress level is below a certain threshold, then I'll _pop out of my shell_ and even randomly talk with strangers over ... whatever. 

Usually my _downtime_ takes 2-4 days. I tend to do a 5-2 day split of socializing, to researching. Even on my social days, it's still several hours of processing and researching on my own. 

Maybe twice a month I go into super-socializing phase, sleep little if any, and basically party for 3 days straight. 

There really is little pattern to my life style. Not sure that was a decent response for you, but it's all I got.


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## Nordom (Oct 12, 2011)

Ideally I try and socialize once a week although maybe a third of the time I go only because I said I would.
Without seeing my 3 or 4 closest friends or socializing in person though, it probably wouldn't start to bug me that much until a few weeks or a month had passed.
I communicate via text and email more often, and it would probably bug me sooner with zero contact if I didn't keep in touch for that long.


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## Devalight (May 27, 2012)

I have no idea. I must go to work, so that is socializing. If I didn't have to do that it would probably be weeks, maybe months?

I mean face to face socializing and not e-mails or internet forums.


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## zallla (Oct 11, 2011)

I _thought_ I was introverted since I need so much alone time and really enjoy my solitude and my personal projects but if there's even one day without human contacts, I'll become depressed. I only want one-to-one connections though, not group activity (this wasn't supposed to sound so naughty). 

Anyway, compared to other introverts here, I seem to need socializing much more but this sample is indeed pretty small and inadequate for reliable conclusions.


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## FlightsOfFancy (Dec 30, 2012)

Umm do we count internet socializing? Phone? If so, not long. 

If you mean face-to-face, sometimes weeks. But I start getting overly energized and need to 'burn it out' so to speak.


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## VenusianMizu (Sep 9, 2011)

About a week. I may not like interacting with people on a constant basis but the keyword there is "constant". I still need people in my environment after a certain number of days.


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## DarthBismarck (Jan 30, 2013)

zallla said:


> ...but this sample is indeed pretty small and inadequate for reliable conclusions.


A fact I'm glad for, because I was really starting to feel like a minority, even amongst introverts.


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## Recede (Nov 23, 2011)

I only get the desire to hang out with a friend maybe once every few months. Online, however, I socialize as much as I can. I have never been completely without human contact (online included) for very long.


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## hulia (Sep 13, 2012)

I'm in Uni, so I see tons of people on a daily basis. When I'm not, I'm with friends or my family. I don't think I've been alone for more than 3 days since I was in year 8 when my parents for a trip and left my sister and I home. But that still didn't even count.

I think the max I could go would be like, a week. As long as I had internet, and my phone. Without that, I probably couldn't make it a day--or I'd end up extremely.. extremely depressed and stressed out longing for some contact. I get lonely fairly quickly.


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## Ellis Bell (Mar 16, 2012)

Days, if not weeks; and I generally don't notice that I'm missing company.


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## Marek (Jan 14, 2013)

I think that if you want to narrow down the average time for staying without socializing for introverts then I think it won't be possible. Introversion - extroversion is a spectrum so it can go for very long time to few days and the responses prove that.


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## BlackMoonlight (Oct 16, 2012)

I can go a few months without socializing before I'll want to talk to someone about something. I don't necessarily want to go without talking to people for that long, though. I like to talk to people one on one, but only when I have something I want to talk about. If I don't, then I won't bother.


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## Khiro (Nov 28, 2012)

Barely any time at all to be honest. I'd socialise most days if I could. The only reason I'm sure I'm I-dom is that I absolutely do need to recharge after a while, it just doesn't take me long.


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## TheOwl (Nov 3, 2010)

Probably a day.
If texting/skyping/emailing/messageboarding doesn't count as socializing, though, than I could probably go a week.


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## Aelthwyn (Oct 27, 2010)

dunno....haven't put it to thorough testing. months probably, not sure how many. time seems to go by so fast. 

For one thing it makes a Huge difference if I know there are people who care about me, even though I don't get a chance to see them. This prevents me from feeling too depressed or lonely, even when I am alone a lot. 

I've never lived all by myself, although I have lived most of my life with just one other person and have dealt fine with them leaving for a couple of weeks and having the house to myself, without a drivers license and pretty much never walking outside the door. 

As a kid I spent a lot of time alone, although I did go to school (where I didn't have many friends. I remember playing by myself a lot). It was just my mom and me, and my mom is an introvert as well, so... we didn't have a terribly active social life. More than I get these days, but still not that much. I do remember bugging her to have friends over or go somewhere, but I never got too depressed about having to just entertain myself most of the time. 

For 3 or so years I lived with another very introverted friend with about a 2 hour drive between me and my other friends and family. I worked by myself in a back room two days a week, and three days a week there was one other guy who worked back there with me - we were pretty good friends there at work, but didn't see eachother outside of it much. My roomate-friend was too drained from working in her noisy office and mostly hid in her room when she was home and barely spoke to me at all...well we would use ichat. I'd see my family and friends maybe....oh 5 or 6 times a year I'm guessing. I was pretty content, and would still sometimes pass up chances to spend time with the one other new friend I'd made there during that time. However, toward the end I was going a bit crazy, not from not enough socializing, but from not enough of the right kind of interaction. I needed more affection, but my friend isn't a touchy sort of person so getting a hug out of her was like pulling teeth, and I needed more positive words - my friend also isn't one for mushy stuff (has a hard time saying I love you, feels silly saying compliments) and my mom had kind of started in with a lot of hinting that I was disappointing her hopes for me so I wasn't getting the ammount of positive input I needed from the two people I was closest to during that time - and that's what made me feel hopeless. I'm pretty certain that if I'd had the same ammount of interaction but it was positive instead of negative I would have been quite happy. 

Now I see my husband every day, usually for a couple hours in the morning and a few hours at night. He's pretty introverted as well, so we have found that it works really well for me to have the house to myself all night while he sleeps, and he has the house to himself all day while I sleep - but we have breakfast and dinner together and watch movies or something in the evening or morning before one of us goes to bed. Other than seeing him though, I live even farther now from most of my friends. I do chat to my best friend online every night, and feel a bit 'off' if I don't get to at least say hi, even if we don't end up talking much. I've got 3 friends nearby who I've probably seen twice each in the last year. Saw various family members probably 4 times total? I know I've gone at least a couple of months with only my husband and my friend on ichat - and while I'd certainly be up for seeing a friend, I wasn't feeling terribly lonely or anything.


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## etherealmoon (Dec 6, 2012)

probably weeks, but I see my husband everyday so I don't know if that counts? Most of the talking I do is with my 3 year old so after being around only him for a few days I tend to crave adult interaction, but in small doses. Going to the store or a coffee shop is enough for me. Then I go back into hermit mode.


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## SirDave (Sep 1, 2012)

I can go almost an unlimited time. My wife says she's worried about my hermit tendencies. I wonder too, about the appearances I leave in not acknowledging my neighbors when I do my daily walk. The profile for a berserk killer fits mine too closely for comfort.. as in the comments after a shooting everybody says _...he wasn't very friendly, or he hung to himself_


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## jessieahh (Feb 1, 2013)

I don't think I've ever reached my limit of being alone. It depends, though, if I have a project I'm working on. At the same time, I can socialize face-to-face every day and be happy as long as there's always the option to walk away from it all.


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## EmileeArsenic (Jun 8, 2012)

I live with family, so there's no possibility of not seeing anyone. But when my family goes out of town, I usually try to take a vacation during that time and just stay home with the dog. I've gone almost two months having said not a single word to anyone, save for the dog, and been perfectly ok with it. Then again, that was directly after I'd spent a year living with a roommate who had Autistic twins and there were 6-8 of us living in a 2 bedroom apartment, so I was very much social interactioned out for a while and needed some alone time.


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## Hikikomori (Feb 14, 2013)

Indefinitely.


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## RentABrain (Nov 4, 2012)

When I was in high school I would often go weeks at a time without having an honest conversation with anyone. My parents would inevitably ask me a few questions every day, but other than that I had no real social obligations. It was beautiful.
Well I'm currently living with my girlfriend's family (not as bad as it sounds). So there are four people other than myself living in the house, three of them being fellow introverts, and the last being very confused about the lot of us. I also attend college, and work as a delivery driver. Neither of which involve much thoughtful socialization. Usually I can get by with only having to have no more than a couple conversations per day, excluding my girlfriend, whom I am much more comfortable talking to. I'm generally pretty happy with this amount of socialization, and most days I get to spend a few hours locked up in my room without being bothered by anyone. When I do get to spend extended periods of time without socializing, though, I get a little antsy after a month or two, and become a little more likely to attend a social function with some of my real world acquaintances, after which I am usually reminded why it is they call me an introvert, and go back to my solo activities.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

I have a very low tolerance of being alone. It feels... ah... draining...


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## BrownJaquan (Feb 17, 2013)

A week, after going such a length of time without seeing/talking to other people I start to feel overly energetic, detached,diffident and a bit guilty. Physically after doing so, and entering into a conversation with another person it often feels as if I'm talking to an alien...if that makes sense.

I've never indulged in the use of cocaine, but I imagine the effects are quite similar. It's like coming down from a high, of intense potency, and trying to interact with a world with seemingly foreign traits.


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## EllieBear (Nov 8, 2012)

Months. However I like to meet people to discuss my ideas, but just being around people? Months quite easily.

When I do socialise I do it in bursts, short and intensive and then I lose interest in people and pootle back to my hole.


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## shefa (Aug 23, 2012)

It depends what I'm doing. If I'm being productive, I'm fine being completely alone for a day, maybe two or even three. If I don't commit to any particular tasks and I sit doing nothing or watch tv or something, I feel absolutely miserable. I'll leave my house and go to Walgreens just to have a momentary interaction with the cashier. It's weird that productivity moderates my capacity for isolation, because you wouldn't assume they had any relationship. Maybe it has something to do with feeling like I'm a valuable human being. I guess I feel most valuable when I'm acting as a friend to others or accomplishing things, and socializing also falls into the category of accomplishment for me.


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## outofplace (Dec 19, 2012)

I've gone weeks at a time.


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## yet another intj (Feb 10, 2013)

My record is 2 months.


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## lolwut12345 (Feb 25, 2013)

Depends what you mean by socializing. I go to a University and I'm forced to interact with people for this reason. I also enjoy arguing over the internet once in a while.

However besides that I do not socialize at all. I don't have any friends, the last time I actually "hung out" with somebody was over 2 years ago or perhaps even longer than that. I don't have a Facebook, no Twitter, no social media at all.

There is absolutely nothing that compels me to socialize with people.


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## another number (Feb 26, 2013)

I could go a few days without speaking to anyone but myself . 3 days and I start to get an itch to reach out and connect.


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## Beauty for Ashes (Feb 6, 2013)

When I was working, I thought I could go forever. But now that I am staying home with my son, I am finding that I have to do stuff a couple times a week or I go crazy. It's not necessarily with a huge group of people or anything - just friends that I care about or my family... And it could just be about actually being out of my house, not being with people specifically. But.... this question is not helping me with my "could I be an ENFP" dilemma....


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## Texero F (Feb 20, 2013)

indefinitely......


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## Inveniet (Aug 21, 2009)

The question assumes a flawed stereotype.

What is socializing anyway?
It is vibing with people who have something in common with you.
Just being on Perc is a from of socializing.

I can't go long without socializing at all. A couple of days would be a pain to me.
But it wouldn't be tradition or based around "tribal" connections.
It would be genuinely felt and shared moments, with people who felt them also.

Without those types of socialization, my life would lose all meaning.

I feel the question asked fails to recognize what Jung meant in this and similar quotes.



> Exceptions, however, are frequent even in one and the
> same individual. Give the introvert a thoroughly congenial,
> harmonious milieu, and he relaxes and expands to complete
> extraversion, until one begins to wonder whether one may
> ...


Somehow one have culturally started to assume that introversion has something to do with the lack of a need to bond.
This is due to the Fe object attaches itself automatically, and assuming that the need to retreat from the bombardment
of stimuli that some extroverts insist on in their social interaction, somehow means that introverts don't need social
interaction. A flawed misconception.



> Just as introverted thinking is
> *pitted against a primitive feeling, to which objects attach
> themselves with magical force*, so introverted feeling is
> counterbalanced by a primitive thinking, whose concre-
> ...


This really bothers me, but I have come to accept that we people will never be able to free us self of the culture we live in.
Sure we may be able to see some aspects independently, but just as surely as the Fe user will accept any cultural stigma
attached to any label, I will accept any fact presented to me. I'm unable to pick it apart in a detached way.
I may reject in a personal feeling way, but that has it's own limitations.


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## emo_hippy (Nov 5, 2012)

At least a couple of months, but beyond that I'm not sure. If I have things to do, i could go on without socializing for much longer, and if talking via electronics such as Facebook didn't count i could go far longer and still be cheerful. To be honest, i don't think that it's the time scale that affects it.


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## will-o'-wisp (Feb 11, 2013)

Apart from living with my family, we recently moved and I see my 'social group' (5 other introverts) every 4 weeks. It has been a relief to me to have moved away from everyone else I knew and no longer have commitments to see them anymore. Seeing that many people that often is perfect for me. It doesn't drain me and I enjoy it. Our meetings last 2 and a half hours, most of which time we are playing instruments and then we stop for coffee and cake.


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