Re: "Breaking Cliques at Events"
u <u@451f.org> writes:
> Now, I've read in at least one answer here that it makes people get out
> of their comfort zone to talk to other humans. (I think everybody has
> had at least one moment in their life where they felt something similar.
> Hopefully, this is not an all-time state!) Still, I believe that we are
> social beings and only through talking & working together can we achieve
> great things.
A minor caveat here: for some people, it's a minor worry or discomfort to
meet other people and then it has a huge payoff, and for other people,
it's a larger emotional drain that can accumulate.
I really enjoy Debconf when I make it there, and loved Montreal, but I
still had to spend a lot of the conference hiding, and I was totally
exhausted when I got back. Wouldn't have missed it, but for me there's a
high energy cost for interacting with people I don't know well and trying
to juggle social signals. I have to have some time off by myself going
over everything I did and said in my head and talking myself out of
worrying that I made major blunders. (I used to think I was an extreme
introvert; now I'm increasingly convinced I have high sensitivity instead,
which is subtlely different.) Usually the amount of accidental
interaction, follow-on discussions from presentations, or running into
opportunities to resolve Debian questions in person is enough to exhaust
my available energy before I can seek people out.
This is not to discourage people from seeking others out and breaking up
cliques! Just know that some of us may stick in our comfort zones not
because we disagree with the idea, but because we have a limited number of
social spoons and conferences cost a lot of spoons. :)
(Speaking up just in case other people were feeling similarly, to let
those folks know that you're not alone.)
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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