Obsessing over WP

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I do this too and not just for snark, if the thread looks like it is just going to become a pile on or hate fest I never return to read it.

Yeah, it´s probably a good idea to take a break from the computer all together once in a while.
I know about the PM function but thanks anyway!




This is interesting, and I did have Asperger´s as an special interest for a brief period of time (maybe 2 months) before I got diagnosed. It had it´s function though; I made research for my paper "Why I think I have Asperger´s/HFA" that I send to the psychiatrist (who was an expert in autism, but I didn´t know that then) so they wouldn´t misdiagnose me, haha. Now I don´t think about it as a special interest being on the forum because it´s too mild of an interest. But I could be wrong, of course.




I can relate to this. When I realized that I had Asperger´s Syndrome (which was before the official diagnosis) I read some autobiographies that really struck a chord in me. I´ve never been able to connect so profoundly to the experiences of NT:s so it was totally a new thing for me to relate the way I did reading those books. It also brought a lot of traumatic memories to life, which wasn´t so fun but certainly necessary.




That´s good advice, I´ll think about that. Thanks


Yesterday, after taking a break from WP, I realized that this obsession thingie wasn´t such a big deal after all. I´d been obsessing about obsessing. Listening to Vibrasphere (good swedish psy-trance) and walking in the rain, watching trees, instead of listening to cars and motor cycles and looking at filthy house facade made quite a change in my psyche. The funny thing is that nothing´s changed really, I spend pretty much time "thinking in posts" yesterday and I dreamt about posting here, but not seeing it as a problem makes it just another aspect of life to flow through

Welcome to the site, IreneS!

If this website has become an autistic special interest for you, then it seems perfectly normal (autistically) for you to spend a lot of time thinking about it in the ways you describe.

I can find that I get a little too involved at times, so I cut back a bit and do something else.

The fact of the matter is though, is that I kind of like WP so it is hard to stay away for too long.

Welcome on board anyway

same here i just joined today and i love it... i would voice my thoughts on facebook and all that but felt so awkward and alone with my thought and know feel like i have left earth and landed on aspie land and it feels great!

I've really tried hard to post things that I wont stress over, because I'll tend to do that. I think everyone on the internet does that lol

But yeah, posting, and then being scared to come back to the thread to read replies is an awful feeling.....

^I used to have that 'post scare' myself when I was on another forum. But don't be afraid to get back to those threads and read the replies to it. Remember that at the end of the day, it's just words on a screen! And that it's actually quite a buzz to defend the points you've made when someone else is questioning them.

I used to sort of obsess about a comic book forum I posted on back in 2007. I never quite got that personally involved with Wrong Planet, and that's a good thing. 2007 ws honestly not my best year.

Thanks for the welcomes! Yeah, WP is fun and an interest of mine right now. I don´t know if it´s a special interest or where to draw the line for a normal and a special interest, but I guess it doesn't matter.

Good, welcome!

I'm the same way and I was quite obsessed with the site for a long time when I first discovered it.

I do get interested in it and I think I could get more interested in it, but I don't obsess about it.

Interesting answers...

I think a lot of the time an autistic special interest can seem sort of like an addiction on the surface. But it's not the same thing, and generally isn't self-destructive in the same way. Autistics need to engage in special interests in order to "de-stimulize" from the over-stimulation that happens just from everyday life. Without engaging in a special interest, you can easily spiral into a state of increasing anxiety with some fairly bad effects (I've had this happen myself).

So what I'm trying to say is not to worry about it too much. Even if your level of interest in something might seem like possibly addictive behavior for a neuro-typical person to have, if you're autistic it may in fact be more of a healthy coping mechanism.

Actually, the Internet as we know it today didn't exist in the 1960s, though the history of the Internet did begin in the 1950s with the development of the first electronic computers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

I also spend a lot of time fantasizing about what personal computers and the Internet would have been like if they were around in the 60s.

I have participated in other online forums, one for almost a decade now, and I go through periods of obsession and then backing off. At the beginning, it is very easy to become obsessed because there are so many past threads for you to catch up on. Especially here, there are a lot of interesting forums, so I can spend hours reading through the recent posts in them. However, once you have "caught up," there won't be as many new posts for you to read on a daily basis, so you may find yourself visiting less often.

Same


I don't have a diagnosis, but do have an appointment to discuss Asperger's in a month, started on working on same type of paper today


It amazes that people I have never met, are writing things that may have well been plucked straight out of my mind. I just read "The Complete Asperger's Guide" by Tony Attwood brought up a lot of memories.

Also I started watching The Bridge before I really knew anything about Asperger's. I have never identified with (empathized?) any fictional character as strongly as I did with Sonya. Eventually I found WP, and that made a lot more sense.