Purpose: Susan Cain’s TED Talk on introversion serves
various purposes aside from a simple change in attitude as you delve into the
video’s meaning. On the one hand, she is addressing the general populous and
asking for acceptance of a quieter and more introspective way of being, rather
than the raucous and outgoing lifestyle that people tend to value in Western
culture. However, Cain also seeks to see change in important institutions such
as schools and offices that can not only accommodate for better environments
for thought and learning, but for better collaborative spaces and overall
growth for people. Overall, Cain’s talk is a call for people to be themselves
and live their lives in a way that is conducive to their personalities, whether
they lean towards introversion or extraversion.
Audience: The audience that Cain wishes to communicate with
is wide and far reaching. In the concrete sense, she is speaking in front of a
literal audience, filled with academics and teachers and people who had
purchased tickets to come and hear her speak. But because the TED organization
has uploaded her content onto YouTube, the audience that Cain speaks to becomes
exponentially larger than the literal audience she spoke to in 2012. However, whilst
talking, Cain goes so far as to say that the world itself needs to accommodate an
introverted way of thinking and existing more, which holds implications that
Cain’s audience encompasses our over-arcing society that holds extraversion to
such a high esteem.
Context: The context of this TED Talk that Cain gives is entrenched
in the culture of Western society. Cain gives some historical context to her
information, citing the industrial revolution of the twentieth century, as well
as speaking of her own experiences growing up in the United States as an
introvert. The Western world often caters to people who are more outspoken and
charismatic, rather than those who are quiet and reserved. This can be seen
from things ranging to the way desk pods are set up in schools almost forcing
people to interact with one another, to stereotypes such as the “prototypical” college
student who goes out on the weekend and is partying and connects with others
almost instantly. Our society caters to and heavily favors a life of extraversion,
which is what has driven Cain to do research, publish it, and give this talk to
call for a change in the way we think about solitude and quiet.
Text: Cain presents as if she were giving a lecture, as most
people who perform TED Talks do. However, this lecture starts off with Cain
telling a story from her childhood before giving concrete examples, and then
launching into a discussion on various factoids, historical examples, and theories
of research about extraversion and introversion. She ends her lecture once again with a different
story from her childhood, before igniting the crowd with a call to action and
discussing ways to bring about change.
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