It seems that my frequent bouts of programming may have something to do with my lack of desire to socialize most of the time. From The Dilbert Blog:

[…] During one period of my life I wrote a number of computer programs that involved intense manipulation of objects in my mind, for hours each day. I discovered that it was difficult to be social at night when my mind had been manipulating object during the day. It felt as if I were deep inside a cave and yelling to the people who stood at the cave opening. It seemed as if the practice of programming interfered with, or exhausted, the part of my brain that handles social skills. […]

It’s well known that geeks are often socially awkward. But maybe the cause of that isn’t the geekiness… maybe being socially awkward frees up brainpower for high-intelligence activities like programming.

It’s worth a thought.