Why a Party Doesn’t Always Meet the Social Expectations of Truly Extroverted People

In a fascinating animation, the ever-insightful School of Life explains why people who consider themselves truly sociable quite often don’t enjoy the impersonal nature of parties. Issues such as loud music, alcohol and not necessarily knowing everyone in the room can leave a great deal wanting in term of social expectations for such a person. Instead, they may prefer instead a quiet night or a small group dinner with friends in order to meet their need to make a true connection with others.

Parties have become synonymous with sociability because of certain underlying ideas about what true social connection might require and entail. …..If we have a lingering horror of parties, we should be generous towards our hunches. It doesn’t mean that we don’t like other people, rather that we have too ambitious a conception of social contact to put up with what is on offer at most parties. The mark of a truly sociable person might, in many situations, simply be a strong desire to stay at home.