Why is there something wrong with me if I'm just quiet?

[Itisnotlogical]

I've been staying home with my mom the past few days to help her watch my nephew while my sister works, and at least 4 times a day she asks me if something's wrong. When I ask her why she thinks something's wrong, her favorite response is "Well you're always so quiet!" I don't know... maybe I enjoy quiet time?

I've always been a pretty quiet person; I don't understand why there must be something wrong with me because I don't talk just for the sake of hearing my own voice in the air. And I've come to appreciate silence even more since my sister had her kid, now that I spend most of my time either taking care of him or at school. I like talking, sure, I just don't do it 24/7, and I don't talk when I have nothing really to say. But everybody thinks I must be shy or awkward or sad because I don't flap my piehole all the time. Anybody else have a problem with being "too quiet"?

 

[Locutus of Bored]

So, we already know you're a quiet man. Do you also like to keep to yourself?

When people talk about you, do they typically say your first, middle, and last name together?

If so, you might be on the way to media stardom, and possibly somewhere else for the next 20 years to life. Guys known by all three names who are quiet men who kept to themselves are like news gold.


Seriously, though, there's nothing wrong with it, moms are just hotwired to show concern when you seem pensive. My mom used to do the same to me when I was a teenager. It might have seemed occasionally annoying at the time but it's also nice to have someone who cares enough to ask.

 

[The Friendly Jewish Ghost]

There’s nothing wrong with being quiet. Don’t we describe brave, manly heroes as “the strong, silent type”?

Of course, you could also be a quiet wimp.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

There's nothing wrong with being quiet, Itisnotlogical, as long as you are able to interact comfortably w/ people when you choose to or when it is necessary. But people who are more extroverted -- and that seems to be most of the population -- tend not to understand that.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Personally, I think there is something wrong with being loud.

 

[The Friendly Jewish Ghost]

Personally, I think there is something wrong with being loud.

Is that why Italians always talk with their hands?

 

[iguana_tonante]

No, that's only to enrage and confuse foreigners. The movements are actually random and completely meaningless.

 

[Amaris]

Nothing at all wrong with being quiet. I'm a very quiet person. It is your unfortunate punishment that you get to hear my brain working instead of hearing me speak. <maniacal internal laughter>

Seriously, though, being quiet is what I do all of the time. I only speak when information needs to be conveyed, or in response to a question aimed in my direction.

 

[auntiehill]

My sister does the same thing as your Mom. I'll be sitting quietly, usually while she is running around, barking orders or complaining at the top of her lungs, and then she'll get right in my face, demanding to know "What's wrong? What's wrong?"

Nothing was wrong until you starting yelling "What's wrong?!" in my face. GO AWAY.

I can't count how many times I've been at my parents' house, having a nice, relaxing afternoon, only to have my mood ruined by her unceasing demand to know "What's wrong?" My sitting in a chair, simply flipping through a magazine or catalog, apparently is a sign of great distress in her universe.

 

[M'Sharak]

No, that's only to enrage and confuse foreigners. The movements are actually random and completely meaningless.

I suspected as much.

 

[Skellington]

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

[Avalon]

^^^ *RUNS DOWN THE HALL SCREAMING*

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Since it's your mom asking, is this behavior different than when you were younger?

She would be the one to notice if there was a difference.

Otherwise, nothing wrong with being quiet. If only more people were.

 

[Starbreaker]

I get this all the time. I just don't ever have a lot to say.

 

[RJDiogenes]

My family always told me I was too quiet. I always told them the world was too loud.

 

[Skellington]

Geese gaggle. Much is made of the "gift of the gab", but maybe the world would be a better and smarter place if more people had the gift of being able to shut the f up. Empty vessels make most noise, as they say.

 

[spooky spice]

I'm quiet as well, I was raised in a very noisy family of chatterboxes and it drove me mad listening to people talking just for the sake of making a noise...

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Count me among the naturally quiet types who dislike noise or excessive talking.

 

[SVD]

When my grandma was alive, I would get the occasional "What's the matter?" from her whenever I was in a pensive or daydreaming mood at the dinner table.

Often those pensive moments were about things, both problems and not, that she could do nothing about.

 

[ITL]

This used to happen to me at times:

"You're quiet. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Come on, there must be something wrong."
"Nope! Just mellowing out, that's all."
"You don't have to lie, you know. Tell me what's wrong."
"I just told you. Nothing."
"I can always tell when something's wrong...."
"Well, there isn't."
"No need to snap...why won't you tell me?"
"BECAUSE THERE'S NOTHING WRONG, FFS!"
"I KNEW it!"