by Rena Ketelsen — Sitting at a table with several plates of food in front of them is a group of people. The chatter and people eating is all around them. A heated argument about some topic of little significance captivates the attention of everyone at that table. Everyone but one. This one person has their eyes directed down at their phone screen, trying to drown out the noise around them. They have no energy left to participate in a conversation with anyone, or even interact with people.
Certainly, almost everyone has been in a situation similar to this one at some point. A person’s energy is simply gone and it needs to be recharged.
In other words, that person’s social battery is depleted. It needs to be recharged before they have energy for social interactions again.
More exactly, Bobbi Meister, a personal counselor, said, “Social batteries are how much energy you expend when you are in social interactions.”
According to her, everybody is different and depletes different amounts of energy in different situations. For Tale Ketelsen, a high school student, the types of interactions that are most draining are ones with the “wrong people.” In other words, spending time with people who do not care about her and only pretend to do so when they are alone costs her the most energy.
As a result of that, she explained that the main moments when she feels that her social battery is completely depleted are after school when she comes home and feels really worn out and tired.
It is also possible for a person to start out a day with a depleted social battery, Meister mentioned. Ketelsen explained, “It sometimes happens in the morning, before I go to school, and I already know there isn’t really someone I can call my true friend.”
As a way to deal with a situation like that, Meister stated, “I think you just have to learn how to balance that.” If someone has an empty battery, they may need to set aside some time when they get home to recharge. This can be in the form of exercise, sleep, reading, or music to mention a few examples.
In Ketelsen’s experience, exercise and music seem to help her best. “When my battery is empty, I really like to go to the gym alone and listen to music”, she stated. However, she also mentioned, spending time with her brother sometimes helps as well.
That matches another point Meister made with regards to refueling social batteries. She stated that taking time for selfcare is important. That can include spending time alone or spending it with certain people.
“We can recharge by being around people”, she explained. “But it’s also good for us to know how to be by ourselves whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert.”
She added that just taking time is a good way to recharge. This time can be spent with sleep, or self-reflection, or whatever works for a person. And it does not have to be days or even hours. According to her, a few minutes can be enough.
Certainly, a scenario where a person is sitting at a table with friends and no energy is probably not very enjoyable for that person. However, taking a few minutes to distance oneself and read something may be enough to recharge a little.
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