Netta Weinstein

So it doesn't mean that solitude is always good or that we'll always love to be alone or that, you know, in a day where we might have 12 hours alone at around, you know, hour four, maybe we start to think, maybe I should go out somewhere.

It can be difficult at times.

There's no question about it.

But many of us can relate to those moments of solitude that were really special for us or that leave positive memories that play an important positive role in our lives.

You know, it's a great question.

It's a really complicated one, one that we researchers haven't quite worked out for a number of reasons, including how we measure introversion tends to be a little complicated.

But one of the things that we've found so far is that, you know, if you look at scales of introversion and extroversion, that extroverts,

kind of surprisingly also seem to benefit from solitude.

It really can be for everyone.

So introverts and extroverts both prefer to have some time alone and benefit from that time alone.

We do find when we ask people, hey, what makes you love solitude?

We did studies like that as well, that people will self-identify.

It's because I'm an introvert.

You know, I really gain energy from that time I have alone.

So when people identify themselves as introverts, they see that that's one of the reasons that they really like to be alone.

But at the same time, when we survey people, we're finding that extroverts also enjoy their alone time.

Absolutely.

And I think that point that, you know, we don't need social interactions or even want them all the time is a really important one.

And I think we tend to forget that a little bit.

We tend to think about our social interactions as the key moments in our lives, the things that we're doing.