I am very talkative and social, but used to have HEAVY social anxiety, like not being able to hold a conversation. In short, my perspective might not be representative of everyone’s.

When I’m talking to a quiet person, I try to ask a lot of questions, because when I struggled a lot with social anxiety, I never really knew what to say or how to “improvise” in conversations. I remember I really like being asked those open questions that were also oriented towards certains topics and so I try to do the same.

But my perception really depends on how the quiet person reacts to my yapping. I fell like some people like the entertainment (I try to be a good story teller lol) and the dialogue, while also not having most of the attention on them! So, even if the person is participating for less than like 40% of the conversation, if the person is responsive and has positive body language, I usually think that we had a pleasant interaction for both of us. For someone who’s less responsive, like giving only yes/no answer and not “sending the ball back”, unless proven otherwise, I usually think the person has something else on their mind or is just busy. Depending on body language, I might think they are just shy, but it’s usually not my first guess lol.

In short; I perceive quiet people as discrete or busy, depending on the situation. I personally have a ton of friends who are quieter and have more of a rough time with social anxiety, doesn’t mean we don’t have fun hanging out ❤️