Texting and online instead of face to face

Post Reply New Topic

Don't hold it against me but I teach language disorders to students studying to be speech language pathologists. I am gathering information about folks who prefer texting or on-line to face to face interaction. Obviously deaf folks like to text - it;s cheaper too. Apparently folks who stutter like to because it doesn't "give them away". some even tell about their stutter before meeting the personin real life (it is easier) s0... I got to wondering if folks with autism or aspergers' have similar reasons. If you don't mind heping a neurotypical, I'd love to know why you prefer it if you do. Thank you.

I prefer talking online and by text, I find it much less anxiety-inducing and confusing.

Definitely prefer talking by text and online

Face to face is difficult for people with ASDs because we have to fake eye-contact and nonverbal communication (after reaching the awareness phase that is)...

Telephone is not as bad as face to face but still causes anxiety because of the realtime element. It's very fast to think what to ask / say.

Text / online is better because there's a chance to think about what to say.

It's just less stressful in general.

I agree with what Marsian is saying. Less stress, not real time, can think about what you want to say.

I do not even answer the phone here, drives people crazy.

Too right!

Neither me nor my Dad (who I presume also has AS) answer the phone at home. My poor Mum has to answer it EVERY time and then when she does answer it me and Dad complain that she's talking too loud and she has to go and talk in the conservatory as far away from us as possible!

If I never used the phone again I wouldn't miss it. I only use it to call my doctor, psy and sis (because she lives far away)...

I do not enjoy real-time conversations. I have difficulty organizing my thoughts into the words I want and thus am often delayed in responding, which leads to awkward pauses and disjointed conversations. Texting and online conversations allow me to take my time in responding as well as work through drafts before finalizing my responses. And, as others have responded, those modes also remove the awkward physical/gestural/tonal qualities of real-time conversations.

Yea, it drives me Crazy when I am explaining something, pause, and people feel like they have to finish your thought.

I find that with my psychiatrist...

He won't let me think and tries to put words in my mouth...

I just want to shout at him and tell him that I need time to think about what I want to say...

Realtime communication is evil and then you come away from it reliving it in a loop wishing it had been different. Hate it,

I don't text, nor use mobile phones (mostly due to a paranoia that microwaves will fry our brains...), but I definitely enjoy online typing. As people have already said, less pressure etc.

I don't really have a very large preference for either method of communication. Text allows me to be more verbose and on the Internet there is a much wider array of conversational partners. There's also time to think about what you want to say. However, some people have the most atrocious spelling and that's a definite con.

"Face to face" communication is okay, I guess. It's not got the negatives of text but not the benefits either. It's much harder to find different people however, so your topics may be limited by your environment.

I prefer online communication. Even MSN which is real time. The real time things do not affect me, in fact many people will tell you I'm quite fast thinking,. It's the fact you don't have to read all those social cues. Eye contact doesn't bother me either cus I either don't make it or I just look at the whole face. It's just so much easier and I can relax and be in my own home and communicate without having all this pressure and also, there's no eavesdroppers.

Texting and online chat is okay, but I'm not crazy about it. I do like writing emails to friends out of town, though.

With texting, you have to write fairly short messages, people expect you to answer really quickly, and most importantly, it's hard to get seriousness vs. sarcasm. I use sarcasm a LOT in real life and it's too hard to understand when I'm joking over text. I also usually get tired of the conversation and it's hard to figure out when the conversation is over. Texting is nice to avoid phone calls or to keep up a conversation with multiple people.

i like to talk online because typing "^^" or "x-x" or "o_O" is much easier than faking the equivalent expressions. also, i tend to pronounce things wrong and get made fun of for it, which is mortifying. i only like talking to people face-to-face if it's a boyfriend or girlfriend, because i do like cuddling and you can't do that online.

i also hate talking on the phone because i have ADD as well and just like irl, i tend to tune out halfway through when people are talking, no matter how much i care about the subject. text is just much easier. like other people said, it's also nice to be able to look over what you type before sending it.

I far prefer talking online or with text messages, though if I was going to meet someone from the internet in real life I'd talk with webcams first so I know they are who they say.

I prefer text communication as it allows more time before responding so I can make sure that what I am saying is not confusing. Also it allows me to avoid dealing with interpreting or showing emotions except through emoticons and so simplifies the conversation. The only thing I don't like about it is that the conversation tends to die easier.

Online communication is definitely easier and can last longer and there's more time to think of replies so I'm not nervous and fidgeting/stimming like a nutter but I think I value face to face interaction more, it feels more important to me.