According to Quiet: Growing Up as an Introvert in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain, introverts make up between a third and a half of the world’s population. 

I sit firmly within this camp. Although I’m now a confident and sociable individual (who weirdly enough thrives when presenting to others), I struggled coming to terms with my introversion growing up in the late nineties-early noughties. Being regularly told to come out of my shell and be more outgoing, as well as recognising relatively few core children’s TV characters as introverts, caused me to internalise a sense of shame about not being naturally extroverted. As a young girl, I looked to characters such as Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls, Angelica from The Rugrats & Tracey Beaker as extroverted examples to mask behaviours of, as a way to ‘fit in’ and feel ‘normal’ amongst my peers.

Fast forward to today, and as I approach 30, working with clients developing brands for this generation of children, I realise there still seems to be a lack of main character representation in children’s media for introverts. Some of the most popular characters in children's TV today are presented as extreme extroverts. I struggle to find main characters that sit outside of this mould and don’t fall into the periphery of storylines. 

This, coupled with new phrases such as ‘main character energy’ being coined by Gen Z, leads me to fear that as a society we may not be as progressive as we had thought when it comes to our understanding of personality types.

There’s no denying that characters like Bluey, Peppa & Ryder bring lots of positive traits to the screen. In fact, because of their positioning, they act as important role models for little ones growing up. 

However, this generation of children are experiencing a completely new world to the one we as content makers may be used to. They are surrounded with increased technology and social media, facing changes to socialisation, and are experiencing rising levels of anxiety; all of which are impacting their wellbeing and upbringing. With a lot of our beloved children's shows now hitting milestone anniversaries, is there room for a new wave of quiet heroes to save the day and ultimately speak for today’s child? 

Making a broader range of personality representation available for kids through main characters, will help them appreciate different ways of being. There is such value in celebrating introverted characteristics such as thoughtfulness, compassion, reflection & independence. Children should not feel the need to be more like something they naturally are not, in order to achieve or be happy. Empathy and reflection are now traits I see as my superpowers. Kids today shouldn't have to wait as long as I did to realise that themselves!

There have been vast improvements over the years in improving diversity & inclusivity representation on-screen. Diversity in the forms of more ethnic & racial, LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, disability, cultural, gender & body representation, in children’s TV alone, shows the strides we are making forward as an industry. I do however, think it's worth reflecting on what inclusivity means in terms of personality types, and whether more can be done in this regard for the generation of children growing up in today’s world.

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