One of the key aspects of being a modern-day human being is the concept of being antisocial. You know, hating phone calls, hating going outside, and hating dealing with difficult people (because everyone is difficult).
Well, there’s a place to celebrate this state of… being(?) and that is the Fear Of Going Out Instagram page, which is chock-full of tweets (sorry, posts) and memes all about that please leave me alone lifestyle.
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So, Fear of Going Out (also known as FOGO) is an Instagram meme page that focuses on all things antisocial. In the light sense of the word. More on that further down.
Anywho, it’s home to over 8,150 posts put up since the page’s conception in 2017. 270,000 followers tune in to the page daily for some antisocial goodness.
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Just to get this out of the way—being antisocial in the true, medical sense is a much more serious thing than what we’re on about here.
Having antisocial personality disorder means being impulsive, irresponsible, and often expressing criminal behavior, being manipulative, reckless, deceitful, and the like. Seeking therapy can lead to recovery.
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However, both we and the Instagram page are referring to a different kind of antisocial. It’s about people who very strongly prefer not to be surrounded by energy sucking vampires whose subtle-cue communication facilities are in denial. Or in the literal Nile. They’re non-existed is what I’m saying.
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And, you know what, that ain’t bad.
Studies have shown that being antisocial in the light sense of the word can have positive benefits for those expressing their anti-society.
Take creativity, for instance: autonomy and independence as a personality trait is associated with creativity.
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People like artists and scientists—two of the most creative vocations out there—are characterized by lack of interest in socializing.
But that’s not all. Less socializing means more time for everything else. Focus is one of them. The brains of people who work in isolation (i.e., home) don’t do overtime by having to drown out the biggest distraction in the office—other people—which it can’t fully drown out anyway.
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Another thing antisocial folks have time for is daydreaming. Letting your brain wander off into the distance of your own thoughts, frolicking in the meadows and riding off into the sunset actually stimulates your brain to work in a sort of “default mode”, which is known to improve memory and foster empathy.
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It goes without saying that keeping a distance from people also means you can focus on the few relationships that you have and those in turn are higher quality. It’s no longer about quantity, and that means the relationships antisocial people have will have a more solid foundation, they will be healthier and more civilized, and that will ultimately mean that they will be happier for it.
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And that leads us to our last point—antisocial people tend to have a deeper and more developed self-awareness. Spending time with yourself allows you to reflect on your own individuality and better understand what you do, what you think and what you feel. If anything, solitude is an expression of relaxation for some, allowing for introspectiveness and self-awareness.
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The biggest struggle comes from the fact that we’re all, as a species, social beings. Everyone falls somewhere in the continuum between energy vampire and I can’t find you on the internet, but it’s never on the extreme end and you sometimes can’t avoid social interactions. But the key here is to learn to respect everyone’s position in this spectrum.
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So, what are some of your antisocial life takes? Oh… wait… you don’t want to share? That’s fine. You can also click that upvote button and that’s going to be just as good!
But if you want more antisocial in you, Bored Panda has more where that came from. Oh, and, of course, the Fear Of Going Out Instagram page.
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