Lars and the Real Girl is a quirky indie dramedy about a shy lonely psychologically-troubled young man who buys a sex doll over the internet and starts a (non-sexual) relationship with her, believing she is real. Continue reading
I used to think of my shyness and social anxiety as a disorder—something wrong with me. As if I got unlucky and inherited a genetic defect. Then, I heard that social anxiety is not something you’re born with—it’s developed. Which didn’t make sense either because I’ve been shy and socially anxious my entire life. It wasn’t until I learned about evolutionary psychology that everything started to make sense. I was born with the tendency to be shy around strangers and worry about what other people think of me, but that wasn’t a genetic mistake. Shyness and social anxiety were actually an evolutionary advantage. Continue reading
Black Mirror is one of my favorite shows on television. It’s like a modern version of The Twilight Zone, an anthology series exploring the ramifications of technology on life in the present and near-future. “White Christmas,” the seventh overall episode of Black Mirror, touches on some ways in which technology might help people with social anxiety in the future. Continue reading
I briefly talked about Haruki Murakami’s memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, in my “Top Ten Books I Read in 2016” post, but I thought this book was worth expanding on, particularly Murakami’s passages about his introversion. Continue reading
The late great horror writer H.P. Lovecraft once said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” He may not have been referring to social anxiety, but he could have been. Continue reading
I used to feel bad about being alone. I felt like there was something wrong with me. That I should be hanging out with friends like everyone else. But when I was with people I felt just as bad because I was so uncomfortable. There was no way for me to win. Continue reading
Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1864 novel, Notes From Underground, is about an unnamed narrator who has gone “underground” to live in isolation from society. He shows several signs of social anxiety through his thoughts and actions. The following quotes from the Underground Man convey what social anxiety feels like. Continue reading
Notes From the Underground is an 1864 novel written by the Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is told from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who has gone underground, or withdrawn from society to live in isolation. Broken up into two parts, the first, called “Underground,” includes the narrator’s rambling thoughts and philosophies about life, consciousness, and all the things he dislikes about society. In the second part, “Apropos of the Wet Snow,” the narrator goes out into society and has several misguided interactions with people. Continue reading
“Did you get him to talk?”
“He doesn’t like to talk… He’s not the biggest talker.”
In a recent interview on the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon spoke with Jodie Foster about their interactions with Robert De Niro. Both joked about how De Niro doesn’t talk much. They laughed about it, and something about that rubbed me the wrong way. Continue reading
Roger Dodger is about Nick (Jesse Eisenberg), a shy nerdy sixteen-year-old high school student from Ohio who visits Roger (Campbell Scott), his cool confident fast-talking uncle in New York City. Roger takes Nick out for a night on the town to teach him how to pick up women. Continue reading
T.Z. Barry 