Odd, yes, but it’s because I’m an introvert. There’s a common misunderstanding that introverts are shy, and extroverts gregarious. Actually, how shy you are has nothing to do with it. It’s all about how you get your energy. Put simply, the more introverted you are, the more you get energy from being alone, and the more extroverted you are, the more you’re energized by other people.

I, for example, feel utterly rejuvenated after a solitary walk in the countryside, contemplating things and making plans. Extroverts, in contrast, achieve the same ends by surrounding themselves with friends or colleagues and bouncing around ideas and thoughts.

It doesn’t take a psychiatrist to realize, then, that extroverts, in these days of forced isolation, must be going through absolute hell. They crave social interaction that they can’t get, and they find that, however awesome social media is, it can’t compensate for that buzz of engaging face to face with other human beings.