Coronavirus: For introverts, masks are just what the doctor ordered!

Some may rue the rise of the face mask, but for introverts it brings the promise of freedom from incessant small talk

The Chinese and Indians are among those most convinced of its protective powers against the novel coronavirus. Several others, including Americans, Brazilians, and Russians, are rapidly embracing it. Even the skeptical Brits will don them in large numbers should their government insist. If these findings from recent Ipsos polls on face masks are to be believed, the world won’t be stepping out unmasked anytime soon.

Such quick and wide acceptance of the face mask is a tad surprising. Past mask-wearing advisories, commonly issued during air quality emergencies, have been less persuasive. Common reasons for resisting masks? Doubts about how effective they are. And that they look uncool and make breathing and talking inconvenient.

As of now though these considerations don’t matter. Between suitably scared corona-believers and corona-deniers, who sense this isn’t the time to mess with governments or popular sentiment, it appears that the world has decided to live with the mask with all its attendant issues. It suggests an uneasy reconciliation, but that may not be the case.

Chatter buster

Think about this: About 25 to 40 percent of the global population could be secretly welcoming the mask. These are the introverts, and they are probably willing to brave every challenge the mask poses as long as it lives up to one core promise. That it will restrain chatter.

Sure, most people are neither introverts nor extroverts but ambiverts. Carl Jung famously said any person who was a 100 percent introvert or extrovert would be a “lunatic”. Introverts, who are basically introvert-ish ambiverts and they aren’t necessarily loners, poor conversationalists, or anti-social.

That said, the introvert does prefer smaller gatherings, more familiar company, less small talk, and more down time between social interactions. The mask, together with social distancing rules, promises to abet exactly this.

Notorious for suffocating conversation, literally so, the mask will, one imagines, exhaust the extrovert sooner than usual. This, in turn, will spare the introvert small talk in workplaces, public transport, and social gatherings. These are not trivial reliefs by any measure.

According to workplace surveys, chatty coworkers are the top workplace distraction in Canada and the United States. Globally, 40 percent air travellers find talkative co-passengers annoying, and as many as 65 percent Indian flyers are willing to pay extra for a hypothetical ‘quiet zone’ aboard, online travel agency Expedia reported in 2017. Every self-respecting introvert will recall ducking behind a pillar/waiter or feigning a workplace catastrophe at a not-too-intimate gathering.

To the introvert’s rescue

Hushing the talkative isn’t the only benefit the mask offers the introvert. For the introvert herself, the mask, with its famed inconveniences, presents the perfect excuse for claiming the solitude and silence she craves. She can dissuade unwanted advances in several ways – get terse, act exhausted, look disoriented – without fear of being dubbed impolite. The mask is easily scapegoat-ed.

How effective would the mask be against the truly garrulous? Difficult to predict, given how determined such characters usually are. However, there should be some succour nevertheless for the introvert. Behind her mask, she could still find release at no risk of detection. Via a gentle yawn, a clenching of teeth, a muttered curse.

In short, the mask opens possibilities of less-draining work-days, journeys, and celebrations for the introvert. One can see why it is such a winsome idea for her. For long she has lived under the pressure of maintaining social niceties, been ticked off for not expressing and networking enough – at the expense of her mental health – and longed for quiet, more reflective moments. A muzzle on the mouth may not be what she prayed for but isn’t something not to be grateful for either.

(Manish Dubey is a policy analyst and writer)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.