SOCIAL ANXIETY
SOCIAL ANXIETY
I. WHAT IS SOCIAL ANXIETY?
1) Many people aren't comfortable with 'standard social interactions'. Be it some part of these, or all.
1.1) For instance, some people find it difficult to meet new people difficult.
1.2) Others aren't OK with large group meetings, or large group meetings with many unknown people present.
2) In some cases, a Shy Person identifies as Socially Anxious. Then as far as they themself is concerned Socially Anxious and Shy are interchangeable concepts.
2.1) This is sometimes useful because 'Shy' is a much older and better-known word.
2.2) However, neither do all Shy people identify as Socially Anxious nor do all Socially Anxious people identify as Shy.
2.3) Some people consider their Shyness to be Closet-Social Anxiety. Then calling these 'Socially Anxious' is then tantamount to Outing them.
2.4) These things said, many of the matters raised in older discussions about Shyness are relevant here.
An activity well thought out as regards Shy people is usually pretty well thought-out as regards many Socially Anxious And vice versa :) And as regards yet other people finding it more approachable than many other activities.
3) A New person may not yet know (almost) anyone, a Shy person may remain New in this sense for quite long, and in some cases may remain New forever. Some people who are Different may also remain New forever.
3.1) This means that concentrating essentially all IceBreakers into 'Freshers Week' and all the Society Squashes into the two weeks after this lets down most of the Shy and Different People.
3.2) This can be resolved by having All-Year Icebreakers, and All-Year Soc Recruitment.
As it happens, these Safer Spaces here have had as one of their most major mottos "for the New, the Shy and The Different" for around two decades now. ["High Captain Commander General Defender of the New, the Shy and The Different" is the most exalted title an organizer can have at ours :) ]
More generally, many Geeky groups and activities have had such considerations carefully built in for decades. This is reflected by what many of the activities, societies and communities mentioned on this webpage are :)
3.B) Some people consider Social Anxiety to be a medical diagnosis. However, some other people will identify as such despite not having a formal diagnosis. Also some people will not want to identify as such despite having been diagnosed.
Moreover, each of the socially-accepted concept and what is discussed on this page do not necessarily perfectly match some medical condition. Nonetheless, this discussion is useful for some such people. Most people talking about Social Anxiety are not medical experts...
I.1 THE SOCIAL ANXIETY STAR
Searching around for Social Anxiety did not appear to point to any previously established symbol or flag.
As such, we created the Social Anxiety Star:
I.2 PIGLET
A simple approximate way of raising awareness of Social Anxiety is as follows. The beloved children's character, Piglet, may be interpreted as showing a number of signs of this. Here's a partial outline for now.
a) Piglet is rather more comfortable around Pooh, especially when nobody else is around.
b) Pooh could be construed of as being an Ally of Piglet's; Piglet explains some of his issues to Pooh.
c) Piglet may have unstated or parabled reasons for some of his issues, in the form of 'the Heffalump'. As such, Piglet might be both Socially Anxious and a Closeted Person.
I.3 ANIMAL HATS
At least since 1980's Japan, some Socially Anxious people have taken to wearing animal hats.
Of course, many other people wear such hats as well, for warmth, fun or aesthetic reasons.
One option wearing such a hat is to reply with corresponding animal noises or gestures rather than words. Some people can manage this in situations where they don't know what to say or daren't say anything.
I.4 INDEX OF FURTHER SOCIAL ANXIETY AWARENESS PAGES AND RELATED
2) Social Anxiety Relating to Meeting Size (Too big, too small, splitting meets, maintaining small unit sizes)
3) RACTORS (Long-Term Low-Intensity Small Person Numbers InteRACTORS) in the Social Anxiety Context
4) Autism Communication Badges and Similar for use in Meetings and Conventions.
5) Social Anxiety as a Cover for Other Matters