No, I wish more extroverts could be introverted like me. Then we could all leave each other the hell alone. 
No. Being introverted makes entertainment cheap and easy. Extroverts are obligated to spend time and/or money making themselves look nice, then going out to satisfy their social needs, whereas I’m more comfortable staying home for free. And all of my time is my own, so it feels like there’s more of it.
I said no. I wish I could be less inhibited but not less introverted, if that makes sense. I wish it felt easier to go up to a stranger and ask for directions, or answer the phone at work (I hate the phone so much), or tell the lady on the subway that I really like her shoes. But I don’t think you have to be an extrovert to be comfortable doing those things, just a less socially inhibited introvert.
I feel like introversion has allowed me to be more observant (especially of people) in my life, more contemplative, less impulsive, and more self-reliant than the extroverts I know. These are very good traits to have, if you ask me. I wish so hard that introversion weren’t seen as a character flaw by so many people.
I started out being an extrovert and have slowly, as the years gone by, become more and more introverted. I can still be pretty extroverted when I want to, but I don’t really want to go back to being that all the time. it’s a lot of work.
I had to go with ‘It’s complicated’. I can be introverted or extroverted depending on the situation. When I am introverted I can be very productive. When extroverted I can have a lot of fun. I can to some degree control when my version is intro or extro. But I have spent much more time in the intro state. Sometimes years of 99% intro. When coming out, it’s difficult to be extro, because I’ve become detached from the world at large. In one case I had the opposite occur, several years of extroversion, and then I had trouble returning to the intro state. If I had to pick one or the other, my head would explode.
No. I used to be shy and an introvert, that was difficult. Now I’m no longer shy, and I can do everything an extrovert can do (talk to strangers, make friends easily and have many close relationships, charm people, be described as ‘bubbly’ ffs) but at the end of the day I only need me and I love being alone. Which is a huge advantage over the people I know who need to be around others in order to be happy, relaxed, productive, etc.
I said yes. I’m actually a closet introvert. I find people exhausting, too, and if I could, I’d rarely speak to anyone. Whenever I have a day off all to myself, I like to just sit at home and enjoy the silence. But my job requires me to act like an extrovert. I wish I felt more like an extrovert, too - it’d make days when I have to do public speaking or reporter interviews much less draining. I’ve networked enough to be reasonably adept at handling small talk and I’m confident enough in my area of expertise where I can answer questions on a dime. But that doesn’t mean I enjoy it.
I can definitely be extroverted and outgoing when the need arises. It’s like a switch flips in my brain and I appear outgoing/funny/charming. Home is where I love to be, though. A lot of my introversion comes from social anxiety, I mostly avoid chatting/parties/social activities because just the apprehension of it can set me into a week-ling brood fest. I’ve just quit trying to fix it, and accept it. When I do go out and have to be social, I always drink too damn much anyway. Since I can’t drink much anymore, this has added to even more aversion to social activities.
I don’t want to be an extrovert so much as I’d like to be less introverted. I’m very introverted on the MBTI scale and it seems like it would be useful to be more in the middle. I need people time and I need alone time, but people are a lot more work. It’s hard keeping up with talky people in conversation and I’m shy enough that it gets in the way sometimes. Still, if I somehow became an extrovert, I wouldn’t recognize myself anymore!
Yes, I wish that socializing with strangers wasn’t so exhausting. I’m okay if it’s just a one-on-one conversation, but meeting/talking to a bunch of strangers at a party or other event is very draining. My husband and I are complete opposites in that regard, so it would make things easier in our marriage.
When I was recently unemployed I also wished many times that I was more outgoing. Networking did not come easy for me.
I wish I were in a place in my life where I could live in my introverted little shell, but I’m not. I wish I could be more extroverted at this time in my life. I’ve had a lot of upheaval in my life recently that has really just left me alone and not in the good way. I wish I could be the kind of person who could make friends, not panic about “what if my car breaks down? Who can pick me up?” So I’d like to be extroverted long enough to build up a healthy support system and social life, but then go back to my reclusive ways for most of my time.
I used to take restaurant jobs that kinda forced me out of my shell. I don’t have any PROBLEMS dealing with just about any kind of person or crowd, but the OP nailed it with it just making me tired after sometimes quite a short time.
I once planned a house party with my roommates, worked my shift and got home about the time the party was kicking into full swing. I went in the front door, out the back, and kept walking a few blocks away to a nice quiet bar, grabbed a drink and a pool table and just relaxed for a couple of hours; headed back to the party for the last hour or two, and that was perfect. I really just wasn’t in the mood for a full-on party, even though <or perhaps because> I’d helped plan it for a couple of weeks.
<shrug> I don’t know what it is, but I just really need a lot more ‘alone time’ than most people. Hell, when I take a day off work, all I want to do is putter around the house ‘alone!’. When I don’t get that self/home/relax time, I go out of my way to get it. <Go outside to smoke a LOT more than usual, for example>.
I would probably benefit from about a 20% increase in extroversion, but I don’t know who I’d be if I were 100% out there for everyone, all the time, so…I’ll pass, and concentrate on just trying to be a little less selfish. 
ETA: I didn’t mean that introversion = selfishness; I just meant that I am aware, on my own part, that I could and probably should be there a little more often for my mate/friends/family.
It seems to me like most people drive with the radio on, I don’t get why folks would be surprised that you do. Or did you mean off? I almost never turn mine on, even for trips which take hours.
I kind of see what you mean. Both hubby and I are ‘loners’ and it’s a rare occasion when we go out socially. We probably should do more of that, but when neither of us wants to, it’s difficult.
I’d offer to pay you a beer (or other beverage of your choice), but then we wouldn’t be leaving each other the hell alone 
I voted its complicated. I am so very introverted that it is tied to the rest of my personality closely so I don’t really know if I could change that much without being a different person. However, being that introverted causes problems in day to day life. I would honestly prefer to be alone 99% of the time and I arrange as much of my life as possible that way. The only people I truly want to spend a significant amount of time with are my kids and maybe some hot 20 somethings whose names I wouldn’t keep straight. I enjoy doing stuff with other people as long as it is activity based and fun.
Hanging out just do it though? Pure torture. It always ends up being some three-legged race clusterfuck and I don’t understand the point. Unfortunately most people seem to like things like sitting together around a holiday table or taking a car trip with someone else in it. I can force myself to do those things if I have to but there is no good to be had from that. I truly want to live in the middle of nowhere or be like that crazy heiress who just died and hadn’t been seen by many people or photographed since the 1930’s. That would be a dream come true.
The only thing* I miss out on is opportunity. That is a big thing to not get much of, and it has meant something of a lesser life because of it.
Everything else about solitude is glorious and I am quite happy.
*And sex, I guess, but I can deal with that.
I think we should be uplfting introversion rather than likening it to a personality flaw (says the person who is pathologically introverted :))
The only opportunities that I’ve missed out are those that I probably wouldn’t like because they would be “extroverted” ones. Being an introvert has not kept me from getting jobs that I enjoy, doing adventurous things, learning new things, exploring new places, and doing whatever the hell it is I want to do with my free time. Indeed, I could see extroversion impeding much of this freedom. Extroverts tend to do things with other people, so that means less “jumping out on a limb” because they’ve always got someone to issue some counter-opinion. Extroverts tend to care more about what other people think about their decisions or meeting someone’s else standard of approval. “Fun” seems to be is the foundation of their social activities. That has always been a nebelous concept for me. I prefer learning, which can sometimes be fun but often is just what it is. Learning.
When I lived near NYC, for instance, the moment I hit the ground and spent many weekends walking or riding my bike through every square inch of Manhattan. Learning every landmark, learning where the good and cheap restaurants were in any particular neighborhood, and even doing a mental catalogue of all the decent thrift stores. The highly extroverted grad students who I worked with had social lives that did not allow for this type of intense, dedicated exploration, so they were always clueless about and a bit afraid of Manhattan, only venturing to it once a year when our advisor would do a Gilbert and Sullivan show and invite us all. A life-long Manhattan resident eventually joined the lab. One day I was talking to him about something, and he revealed shock that I was so familiar with the intricate details of his city.
I’m planning on doing a 4-day hike of the Grand Canyon one day (perhaps not this year but the next). It does not bother me at all that I don’t have to factor in another person’s schedule and plans while crafting this “dream.”
I don’t think introverts miss out on opportunities. In fact, I think those with certain personality traits tend to create them out of wholecloth and jump into them head first.
No. I like me the way I am.
I don’t understand why so many introverts have posted “…but I really should get out more.” People only think that because the cult of extroversion has convinced them that it’s wrong to be happy at home. Don’t buy into that bullshit.