Are you becoming more introverted with age?

[Anonymous]

I think I just realized over time that the majority of people aren’t worth knowing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was for most of my life, a pretty extroverted and social person. Now I am 50, live alone, and find I am starting to avoid social situations more and more. I am also much quieter and need a lot less social interaction. I have lots of friends I can meet for breakfast or lunch but I find that is enough social interaction for me and I will happily just stay at home or doing my own thing.

Recently I travelled with a friend for a week and I was wishing I was alone by day 2 and internally counting the hours until she left! It wasn’t anything about her, she was great, I was just hating the 24/7 with someone and feeling like I needed my own space.

I work all day with people, I am not isolated, I just find I don’t really need close friends anymore. I do keep in touch with them as maybe I will need them someday and I care about them but I feel like I am happier by myself doing my own thing. Even family, I visit for a couple days then I am happy to leave.

I am not sure if this is normal with age or if I am isolating myself or not being social enough.

Many older people become more hermit like. It's not unusual.

[Anonymous]

I’m not sure it’s possible to be more introverted than I always have been, so no. If anything, I have learned to tolerate others better as I age and stop caring what people think.

[Anonymous]

Kind of the opposite for me. I’ve been a lifelong self-described introvert. Love an evening at home with a good book. But as I crossed the threshold of 40, I gradually realized how important my friendships are to me, and redoubled my efforts to make time for them. I’ve also become a lot more willing to engage in the minor social interactions of daily life — a conversation with a security guard at work, a compliment to a stranger in an elevator, an introduction to another parent at school drop-off. It’s been rewarding and fun to drop the pretense and self-consciousness and embrace personal interaction more.

[Anonymous]

When my first was a toddler I was really interested in mom groups and found a great one. Unfortunately that disbanded around kindergarten when people moved. We also ended up moving to a new neighborhood so there's new mom's groups but I'm just so over it and have no interest in starting over again. However the kids don't get invited for playdates if the parents don't know you so I have to suck it up a bit.