> Extroverts seem to me to live for the interaction, not for the content of the interaction. To me this is the essence of small talk - what is said isn't the po

> Extroverts seem to me to live for the interaction, not for the content of the interaction. To me this is the essence of small talk - what is said isn't the point; it's the fact that words are being exchanged that gets and keeps the juices flowing. This is also true from my observation as well. I would go a step further and say there doesn't even need to be an exchange as some extroverts simply like to have words come from their mouth without regard to what is said in reply to those words (which is what you are saying but put a more exact way). To be clear this doesn't mean 'all' nothing is 'all'. But the pattern is what I have observed for sure. > extroverts understand introverts in any deep sense. They tend to see us as lacking something vital (this constant social exchange of what is often mostly meaningless information). I Again I agree. It seems to be accepted that the right way to be is to be social and to interact and if you don't do that you are 'off' in some way. ie 'Not normal'. > Introverts do understand extroverts though - we know the interactions are feeding a need in them not unlike the need for a fix of a someone addicted to an addictive, although not enormously harmful, drug. The reason I would say that introverts understand is because they are taking the time to observe and think and not so much what they will say in the interaction. To illustrate the point take the experience of Dan Ariely: https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/terrible-accident-led-to-dan-arielys-career.html https://www.thecut.com/2015/07/terrible-accident-led-to-dan-... "He spent the next three years in and out of hospitals and surgeries, and, he writes, “since I had little else to do and badly needed distraction, I began to notice and record things.” " If you are talking you are less likely to notice than if you are not talking. (I am sure others can bring up apocryphal examples of the same point that I am making).