[lostcolony]

No, it's a continuum. Most people need both; introverts go stir crazy after a while and have to interact with people, and extroverts get tired and want a moment to themselves.

It's more what drains you faster, what can you handle an excess of more easily. I consider myself an introvert because I very quickly get tired of people and shut down; it takes a day or two of being on my own (or otherwise not interacting socially with others) before I begin to crave it.

Or put another way, as an introvert, solitude may recharge me, but once recharged I need to expend that energy (else I get depressed and antsy). When actually in social settings, I may at first blow through a good chunk of that energy by being amiable and outgoing, once I start getting low I tend to be judicious in how I expend it, as it drains at different rates (crushed in a crowd it drains very fast. Alone with a single friend, talking, eating, gaming, whatever, it drains very slowly).

Few if any people can handle days on end of either solitude or company without tiring of it and needing the other at least briefly.