It's not all stock options and IPOs and breathtaking incomes. She frequently reports on high-technology trends and its surrounding culture. Long hours spent on the Internet and an increasingly impersonal business culture may be driving the trend, say researchers, and the effects can be debilitating. This can involve more than an occasional case of sweaty palms at the prospect of public speaking or a racing heart rate, say researchers at the Shyness Institute here.
Symptoms can range to totally inhibiting fear of human interaction.
Shyness might afflict this area in particular because Internet use here is well above the national average. Local therapists are responding to an increasing demand for treating shyness. On a recent evening, one patron described his paralyzing anxiety when asking a co-worker out to lunch. A more anonymous work environment and long hours spent on the job rather than in social activities contribute to social clumsiness. Relying on online communication tends to exacerbate the shyness problem, says Carducci.