Talking to say nothing is not their forte. And even when they have to say something, speaking out loud is often a challenge for them.
In our era of “news streaming” where opinion formers, verbal braggarts always ready to do battle and other stage managers reign supreme, their existence could go unnoticed.
Yet some experts estimate that a third of the population is introverted, another third is extroverted, and the final third is in the middle of the spectrum.
Olivier Niquet, the “enigmatic” columnist, co-host and designer of The evening is (still) younga program broadcast on ICI Radio-Canada Première – where he is not, let’s say, the most talkative of the band – has long known which side he is leaning on.
He assumes himself as “spokesperson for introverts” with an essay entitled kings of silencewhose subtitle tells us that, under the seriousness of the matter, the tone remains humorous: “What we can learn from introverts to be a little less stupid and (perhaps) save the world”.
“My introversion is not necessarily the fact that I have nothing to say, defends Olivier Niquet, who willingly submits to the ordeal of the interview, in a café in Montreal. It’s more than I often have trouble saying, more trouble formulating my thoughts. Which means that I often end up saying nothing. »
“Extroverts think out loud. Me, I can’t think and talk at the same time, he writes in kings of silence. When I think, I don’t speak; when I speak, I don’t think. »
The spirit of the staircase
“I have always enjoyed writing, creating blogs and podcastbut it’s the impromptu discussions that are a problem for me,” says this 42-year-old “versatility expert” columnist, who recognizes that over time, this introvert condition has also become his “trademark”.
Obviously, Olivier Niquet seems to have “done his research” (as a disgraced actress would say). And some of the findings he collected for kings of silence turn out to be surprising. Like this study from the University of California in 2014, according to which a quarter of women and two-thirds of men would rather give themselves an electric shock than be left in a room all alone with nothing to do.
Pascal, the author of thoughts (1670), was right when he wrote that “all the misfortune of men comes from a single thing, which is not knowing how to remain at rest, in a room”.
In 1999, reports Olivier Niquet, an American researcher had shown that introversion was linked to an increase in blood flow in the frontal area. The blood of introverts and extroverts does not, it seems, follow the same paths. Introverts’ stimuli must travel through deeper neural pathways in the brain.
To which Olivier Niquet adds: “For the blood of the introvert, crossing the brain is as complicated as crossing the Plateau-Mont-Royal by car”.
This probably explains the fact that introverts are also the kings of the “spirit of the stairs”, which refers to the phenomenon that occurs when the perfect repartee arrives at us on the stairs, after the conversation — usually ten minutes too late.
In my own book
For Olivier Niquet, the arrival of the Internet has been a real blessing for people who, like him, need to find and weigh their words. ” To be nerd and introverted is a frequent comorbidity, ”he believes, he who admits to practicing voluntary confinement since his first steps on the Internet, in 1992.
His enthusiasm for the possibilities of the Web is perhaps matched only by his lack of interest in social banter.
Because for the introvert, the small talk represents an incalculable expenditure of energy. “I already have trouble formulating my thoughts and finding information. A discussion, me, it exhausts me. Expending this energy to talk about the rain and the good weather, it exhausts me so much. »
Hence perhaps his fascination for people who speak out with conviction about everything and nothing — and also about their opposite — for loud-mouthed demagogues and aces of public speaking.
An interest fueled by the sports world, which fueled the website and the show The sportnographer (broadcast on ICI Radio-Canada Première from 2009 to 2012). “When did these people have time to think, between their morning newspaper column, their morning TV show, and their homecoming radio show? Mystery. »
Plato also understood this: “The wise man speaks because he has something to say, the fool because he has something to say. »
After reading a lot on the subject, which helped him to understand himself, Olivier Niquet says he wanted to do this essay (“A way of trying to say things”, according to him) to also help a few people . “But initially, I did it because it amused me,” he admits.