Now you can do something about it.
Introvert, Dear and I are collecting signatures to ask four online dictionaries to change their outdated definition of the word introvert.
Why is this important? Well, these four dictionaries are defining an introvert as a shy person. This is totally incorrect. According to Susan Cain, author of Quiet, the New York Times Best selling book about introversion, “Shyness is the fear of negative judgment, and introversion is a preference for quiet, minimally stimulating environments.”
A large percentage of introverts are not shy. I’m an introvert, and while I occasionally act shy it doesn’t happen very often and I wouldn’t call myself a shy person. Plus, there are plenty of extroverts who are shy. These dictionaries aren’t adding the knowledge about introversion, they’re confusing people.
But it’s not just that, Cambridge Dictionaries Online adds the following to their definition of introvert: “unable to make friends easily.”
Unable? WTF. It’s like they’re trying to insult us. Sure, some introverts are unable to make friends easily, but some extroverts are unable to make friends easily too. This definition is inaccurate and hurtful.
Knowing the difference between introversion and shyness will help both non-shy introverts and shy extroverts to understand themselves better. Susan Cain’s Ted Talk has been watched over 13 million times, and because of that video, many millions of people have a better understanding of what it means to be an introvert. And yet when these millions of people go to online dictionaries for more clarification, they read an outdated definition. Changing the definition of introvert will help everyone to understand introversion a little better, and it will help the creators of the dictionary to stay current and stop spreading misinformation!!
Join…
Laurie Helgoe, author of Introvert Power
Sophia Dembling, author of The Introvert’s Way
Nancy Ancowitz, author of Self-Promotion for Introverts
Rachel Tucker, filmmaker/creator of Introverts Web Series
Brenda Knowles, creator of the space2live.net blog
Lisa Avebury, creator of Sacred Introvert
Val Nelson, a work & life coach for introverts
Kathryn Hall, creator of thebusinessofintroverts.co.uk
Andy Mort, creator of Sheep Dressed Like Wolves
Tanja Gardner, creator of Conscious Introvert Success
Catherine Callender, who runs Quietly Authentic
and Michaela Chung, who runs Introvert Spring
in signing a petition telling 4 dictionaries to stop defining an introvert as a shy person.
And please pass this petition on to any introverts you know, and any extroverts who realize the importance of dictionaries defining words correctly.
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*Although it asks for an email, I won’t put you on a mailing list.
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Your signature will make a difference, and you can help us get even more signatures by spreading the word on Twitter or Facebook.
Introvert does not mean shy! I just signed the petition asking dictionaries to change their outdated definition. https://introvertology.com/introvert-definition-petition-update (click to tweet)
