I had always considered myself extraverted but recently I have been shifting towards a more introverted character. Different things happend in different stages of life. That does not mean I want to be alone all the time. I still like company, I still like being with my partner and friends and family. It’s just that I need some alone time every once in a while.

If It were to be alone all the time I’d become lonely and miserable. I think many introverts (if you want to put people into stereotypes to begin with) are like this. But not everyone. It’s more of a fluid scale rather than a very binary thing.

Is introversion even a real thing? I am starting to believe its burnout from social masking and many of us are just autistic

I don’t really… I was always content with just talking to people online for many many years. For a while the only reason I left my apartment was to get food, beer, cigarrettes or drugs. Then I’d hole up again until one or more of those things ran out.

I prefer solitude to be honest. I don’t like dealing with people and their demands, but if they’re just online people I can just click the X button and poof they’re gone for now.

Yes, we get lonely.

We need time to recharge by ourselves, alone, it is true. However, worthwhile relationships are still worth spending energy on, even if prolonged social interaction can drain the battery to zero.

We totally do. All people need a social life, but as an introvert I just like to space out my social time, or when in public I tend to not talk to people, but we certainly do get lonely.