Within a short space of time, the coronavirus has completely turned our daily lives upside down. The number of infected people is increasing and the advice is clear: stay indoors as much as possible and avoid unnecessary social contact. While some people find it relatively easy to stay at home for several days in a row, others say that it is driving them ‘completely crazy’. Why is that? “Apparently people have a strong need to be with others,” says Roos Vonk, professor of Social Psychology at Radboud University in Nijmegen. “It’s not as though the country is in complete lockdown. For instance, you’re still allowed to go outside for a walk. But some people find it more difficult than others to avoid social contact.” According to the professor, this can mainly be explained by your personality. Some people are better at being alone than others. “This is partly due to the differences in how introverted or extraverted people are,” says Vonk. “When it comes to extraverts, we often think of people who express themselves, while an introverted person is more tight-lipped. But there is a whole other dimension of extraversion.” Recharging your batteries in the pub The dimension that Vonk is talking about pertains to what energises people. “There are people who feel fully recharged after an evening in the pub, while there are others who actually feel exhausted after an evening of so much social contact.” This explains why an introvert usually has less trouble staying indoors than an extravert. “If you have a strong need for social contact, you may find yourself occasionally struggling with the current situation,” says Vonk. Another explanation for 'going crazy' is habituation. Vonk: “A lot of people are used to living their life like they’re running in a race. They spend the whole day running around, taking their kids to school, going to work, taking their kids to sport activities, or playing sports themselves. Now that they can’t do that anymore, it feels to them as if their whole life has been put on hold.” The professor thinks that we find it difficult to enjoy doing nothing these days. “There’s a picture circulating on the internet that says: ‘Our ancestors had to go to the front line to fight for their future, and the only thing you have to do is stay home and sit on the couch.’ Sometimes I have the feeling that people would rather go to the front than stay at home and sit on the couch,” Vonk says jokingly. This article previously appeared in De Gelderlander. Image by Paolo Nicolello via Unsplash.