5 Signs You’re An Introvert, Not “Antisocial”

Many of us are often mislabelled as “antisocial” when we prefer staying at home rather than accepting our friends’ invitation for a day out. Like many other psychological concepts and terms, “antisocial” is often misused in everyday conversation.

Rather than calling people who are declining to engage or incapable of engaging in social interaction “antisocial”, the more proper term would be “asocial”. Silvi Saxena, a licensed social worker and certified clinical trauma professional, explained that “asocial” means feeling or being isolated from others, while antisocial behaviours are linked to antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).

Similarly, introverts are often lumped in with antisocial people. Many defining characteristics can distinguish between introversion and antisocial. With that said, let’s take a look at the signs you’re an introvert, not “antisocial”:

Writer: Syazwana Amirah
Script Editor: Rida Batool
Script Manager: Kelly Soong
Voice: Amanda Silvera
Animator: Hannah Roldan
YouTube Manager: Cindy Cheong

REFERENCES

Cabello, R., & Fernandez-Berrocal, P. (2015). Under which conditions can introverts achieve happiness? Mediation and moderation effects of the quality of social relationships and emotion regulation ability on happiness. PeerJ, 3, e1300.

Cain, S. (2013). Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking. Broadway Paperbacks.

[Psychgo]

Do you often get mislabelled as an antisocial person, simply because you are an introvert?

[seemranhoro]

Being an introvert it's really hard to be around many people. We like to be alone with our own thoughts or only one person at a time. Cuz we feel as if our energy is being drained when we are in crowded place. We are deep Thinkers and can easily read people and situations.

[Dev.Yadav.]

Has anyone ever avoided asking someone something for the fear of sounding stupid or annoying and then immediately regret it?

[aaoo]

As an introvert, I relate to all of these. I’ve been bullied and called “antisocial” by my classmates back in middle school. I barely had any friends. It didn’t mess me up so terribly, but it was still quite upsetting. I’m currently in high school and have a ton of good friends. I’m still introverted, but I do enjoy going out and spending time with my friends. I’m definitely a lot happier and more social than I used to be a few years ago.

[camilomadrigal]

1) You prefer the inner world of your mind 0:49
2) You can relate to others in a healty way 1:31
3) You enjoy deep connections with the people you are close to 2:14
4) You are highly empathetic 2:57
5) You enjoy doing things with your friends and the people you love 3:27
I hope this will help you 😊

[kenrickbautista]

I'm more of an ambivert, but I am definitely socially selective and empathetic. However, one of my biggest goals in life is: having a human connection. I just really can't stand loneliness. I also hate it when some people think I'm antisocial or something. It's like they never know (or knew) the real me.

[quillandcamerafilms]

I’m definitely an introvert. I can only ever open up to a very small group of people that I really trust. Otherwise I can barely talk to people without regretting everything I say and thinking they’re all secretly judging me.

[pinkfluffyunicorn]

since no one has done this in this video so
1. U prefer the inner world of ur mind 0:50
2. U can relate to others in a healthy way 1:32
3. U enjoy deep connections with the people u are close to 2:15
4. U are highly empathetic 2:58
5. U enjoy doing things with ur friends and the people u love 3:27

[comesahorseman]

It's a strong need to recharge physically and mentally after a gathering, and a need to get ready before an "event". Especially as I get older!

[yohaizilber]

I considered myself an introvert for about 5 years. Turns out, I’m actually pretty extroverted, it was just hidden under layers of severe social anxiety and repressed trauma.

[itsmeally]

I relate to this SO MUCH. It was just yesterday when Mum said that I was being "antisocial" by not talking to a friend, but I actually thought of the opposite... this video spoke for me actually. Thank you for letting us introverts know the differences between being introverted and being antisocial. I think it would take a long time for others to understand people like us😭😭😭

[imagiFantasy]

I love the background music. It's really calm!

[ohyoumadbitchhh]

I used to tell people I’m *antisocial* but now I know I’m *introverted* thanks 😊

I made it to the end! ♥️♥️♥️

[virgobttrfly]

the art style is so cute!! :3 i just love my own company majority of the time, i can't be social 24/7 because my social battery runs out so quickly. i have an empathic connection to a few people and i am grateful they respect my introverted-ness. i also choose calming environments when going out with the ones i love, every once in a while i go to 'chaotic' events lol! great video. ☮️❤️

[MysteriousIntrovert]

I’m not necessarily “antisocial” but I feel like I’m better at texting someone rather than talking in person. I’ve had only 1 friend throughout my physical life so far in my 20 plus years living on this planet as an mysterious introverted creature. I was also really quiet throughout my whole school life and I had moments where I just want to avoid eye contact when the teachers would make us do group projects. Here I am working from home and enjoying the sound of waterfall music playing while I’m copywriting for the 4th straight year now without anyone pressuring me to rush me to “work harder” compared to physical jobs out there that doesn’t have the freedom to take self time and for my own mental health goods.

[gabriellacarriesrh]

I mean antisocial was originally the term for sociopathic behavior but it has been getting confused with asocial for a long time soo I HOPE most of us aren't actual antisocial people 🤨

[m]

I'm defiantly an introvert. I would much rather stay in my room, then go outside or talk with people. It's been hard for me to stay in a relationship with people. As soon as I think I've made a friend with someone, they just leave me when the school year is over. I often blame myself because I think I did something wrong. The closet I ever got with trying to make friends was last year, this person said they would like to talk to me again on Discord, but that never happened. I still haven't heard back from them and I'm beginning to think all the times I spent with them last year, was meaningless. All the times I talked with them about computers, introducing them and helping them get better at Pokemon Go because they were interested in the game, letting them teach me about things I didn't know you could do on a computer. They basically made me realize I also loved computers and technology in general. They graduated last year and it's going to be hard for me knowing I won't have anyone to talk to. This school year has been already stressful for me because of schdule changes and switches that hurt me mentally. I have autism so I have an iep teacher, that would help me on work. He was the best teacher I had, and I had him for my first two years at my high school. He treated me not only as a student but I felt like he treated me as in a way like we've known each other for a long time. He conntected to his students, he motivated them to do better at school and when someone was having trouble in one of their classes, he would take time to go talk to their teacher to help them improve their grade. Too be honest that teacher was probably the main reason I was enjoying high school. So when I found out yesterday I got switched out of his classroom because of short staff and he had to take a completly different batch of kids, I was very sad. It still hurts thinking about it. At least I get to see him at lunch, but I'll miss the days where I had him as a teacher and the days I had people I could talk to. My mental health has never been in a good state, I keep thinking of death all the time, it's probably because I just hate myself all the time. I don't feel too motivated to work. The reason my freshmen grades didn't look too good was because of a lot of missing assignments and the pandemic but I did like online learning because health class and PE were easy. I'm often seen as lazy because I take naps all the time and staying up late because this is the time where I feel like I have freedom to try and do stuff. I have major trust issues because of past events so I don't really share my actual interests with people. My parents want my to take a weight training class because they want me to have bigger mussles, but I'm opposed to this because I saw it as a sign of toxic masculinity. Which isn't a surprise because they kept trying to get me into sports when it wasn't fun for me. I feel scared to share anything to them because I think they will try and remove the thing I like. Thet aren't physically abusing me and they do feed me, but I can't trust them. My one escape to them was when I somehow manged to convince them to send me to my grandma's house. I did much more work there and felt happier there because I had someone that I could talk to about stuff and even though they didn't know much about tech, I showed them my passion and love for tech and other things I found a love for, like trying to create music, although I'm still looking for a website to create music with. Voice acting was something I fell in love with when I was around 14. The game that sparked my interest was Persona 5, I loved the characters, the story and escpically the english voice acting. Those Goro Akechi lines were something else. My sister keeps shaming me for liking english voice acting and keeps showing me the old english voice acting that didn't sound too good. Anyway that was a very long comment and if you did make it this far, I would like to thank you for reading through the whole comment because I had a lot to say:)

[Seekaywastaken]

♥️ Felt right at home watching this one. 31 years old now and even looking at an old class photo from back when I was in second grade I clearly stood out in the sense that you could tell I was the quiet shy kid.

[khalilahd.]

This happens to me all the time! I like to keep to myself but people take it as antisocial and off putting and j don’t know how to continue to keep to myself and not offend anyone 😕

[exiledPostman]

Something that will make me genuinely hate someone is if they attempt to "train" you to be more social or outgoing, like they will drag you to a bar or dancing because they think forcing you to do something you hate will make you like it. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. YOU CAN STOP.