At what rate do your interests change

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Mine change every 12-18 months

I remember when mine used to last that long... those were the good old days. Now they only seem to last for a month or two, but I do think I kill them off before they naturally end as I don't want to spend too much money on them (some of my past interests have cost me a small fortune). I'm 39. If I could turn the clock back I would do all I could to stick with some of my interests, especially singing. I would try to turn them into a career. But I only learned I have Asperger's this year.

oh if i was able to turn back time i'd help you

Mine last for 3-36 months. I usually have two, a main interest that I spend around 75% of my time and a secondary interest the takes most of the remaining 25%. I seem to have almost no control on when the interest will fade.

Some of my interest envolve spending money but that's not always the case. Whatever my interest I will read as much about it as I can (online, books, magazines), subscribe to any podcast about it I can find, etc...

Examples of some of my past interest: Poker, Whisky, Video Games (playing and developing), Sci-Fi novels (especially Robert J Sawyer whom I partially credit with me realizing I have Aspergers), Asperger's itself and dozens of others over the years.

I have a few big ones, usually two, maximum four at any time. Intensity varies, they have some sort of cycle. Lasts......I don't know. One of mine has lasted ten years, since I was a five year old tot. That's medicine. Right now the big ones are Sherlock Holmes and ethnic anthropology. I'm guessing they'll last pretty long too.

Oldies but goodies...Asperger's itself, fender strats, horses, freemasonry, particle physics, intelligence...often used as subs when I'm bored to death.

My major special interests typically last around 2 to 3 years. Even though it seems like a long time to be obsessed with something, it still doesn't feel like enough sometimes, especially when I compare myself to other people on the spectrum who have had special interests for many, many years - like over a decade or who have been into the same things since they were children.

Depends on the interest.

Never? I have the same obsessions I've had since I was a child.

I get major and minor interests. Major interests generally last a few years. These are things like nuclear reactors, computers, biology. Minor interests last quite a bit shorter. Weeks to months, usually. These are things like specific video games or foods.

Mine go through phases, for a few months itll go all over the place, different and unrelated topics for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Then it'll go back to what I arbitrarily call my 'core' areas of interest (Psychology, Mathematics, History, Military Strategy/Tactics, and almost anything NASA would be interested in) and i'll bounce between them for a while then go back into the rabbit hole. Considering the amount of progress I make in each area in the relitivily short period of time (balanced by my forgetting several details in the interim between fixes) I need to figure out how to either focalize on one thing for a long time or at least tighten my shotgroup to a couple sort of related things, I'd then be a powerhouse.

Umm, 30+ years and counting for my major obsessions. Electricity/electronics started at around 6 years old, computers at about 12. Minor ones can last a few months to a couple of years.

My biggest obsession is music which has lasted since I was 13 (I'm 16 now) . I also get obsessed with certain bands at a time ... The longest being Metallica which has lasted for about a year and a half. My obsession at the moment is Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett. . . I'm also obsessed with guitar playing and painting ... As well as this I have mini obsessions such as Philosopher, comedians and I'm currently developing an obsession for WW2 and The Dambusters

I'm also obsessed with the word 'obsessed', judging by the obsessive use of the word in my post! ... Ooh! I also get obsessed with words!

My interests now linger for years. I don't remember them lasting so long when I was younger.

Not often at all. My main special interests are technology and transportation infrastructure. I've been into transportation infrastructure for almost as long as I can remember. My fixation on tech came about in middle school, and it's currently my primary SI. Past SIs include urban landscapes (I still have a soft spot for that), baseball (still a fan, though not necessarily obsessive), and supermarkets (an SI for a time when I was around 5, then again when I was 9 or 10).

Mine usually last for several years. Until now. Now they change every few weeks. I wish I could just focus on one thing for several years like in the past.

As a child mine lasted 2-3 years on average, but my latest interest in psychology has lasted for almost 10 years now. (Intermixed with an interest in genetic disorders, but even then my focus is behavioral phenotypes.)

History of my interests:

As a baby - my first word was 'meowmi' (cat), so I suspect they were my first interest

As a preschooler - the rainforest, at 5 years old I impressed a priest by telling him my stuffed toy monkey had a prehensile tail (I'd tied his tail around my arm)

grade 1-3 or so - Animorphs, a book series about teenage superheros who turn into animals to fight mind-controlling alien slugs. I pretended mean people in my life were mind-controlled, and someday I'd find the Animorphs and join their team.

grade 5-7 - drug addiction, sparked by the anti-drug stuff in school

age 13 to now - psychology, particularly abnormal psychology

age 14-16 and just recently popped up again - medical genetics, particularly behavioral phenotypes of rare genetic disorders