Is infoseeking/googling common?

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I'm called a Googleholic by my family. I'll give you an example that happened tonight.
I told my husband that theres a mosquito in the house and its bit me twice. My husband says mosquitoes only bite once. Immediately I pull up my browser and begin searching in Google for information about mosquitoes. I found the information rather quickly in this example, but other times I search for hours.. days maybe. And like always, I get wrapped up in not only finding the answer but in reading about the subject.

I find its not fueled by the need to be right, because if I'm wrong thats fine. It seems to be fueled by the need to find the facts NOW. Immediate is part of it. If I'm someplace where I cannot search for the answer, I get agitated quite quickly.

My husband says he can actually see a certain look in my eye before I go look up something. He can tell when I'm on a mission to find an answer. Even my kids can see it.

I find that whatever I'm searching about tends to become my interest for awhile. If that lasts hours or days is only really determined by how long it takes me to snap out of it. Sometimes it can be an interest that I don't really want to have. For instance, I was stuck on insane asylum treatment for awhile. Another time it was cruelty in jails. Treatment of POW's. Animal abuse. You get the picture.. and then there are times I look up and obsess about perfectly mundane things like mosquitoes and car manufacturers, and how the toaster was invented, etc..

I find that these quicky obsessions are usually only carried out via the internet. I have no desire to check out books about mosquitoes or collect them. Only to search for more knowledge about them. Its like a driving force.

So is this common among autistics? I am dx'd with Asperger's. I've always felt my need to have information was a bit crippling to me. I cannot retain all of it, so its almost wasted time. I enjoy learning, but it doesn't always stick with me well. I know others find it odd that I can't just wonder about something and not find an answer immediately.

Yes I do stuff like that all of the time. If I read about something that entices me in a book or something, I will need to google the subject to find out what I can about it.

That is exactly how I am. For instance, a moment ago I just googled "why some mice don't have babies all at once" because my mouse just had some, but is still visibly pregnant. I didn't find an answer and it kinda gets me down. That's just one example. I probably google something new and learn new things many times a day because of my "thirst" for information. It can get in the way of life some times too...

I do this all the time especially if I have a disagreement with someone about a fact. My exhusband used to say that I was trying to prove that I was right but I'm not. I just want to know what the right answer is so that I'll know. I like gaining knowledge. I'd learn everything if I could

yeah. I never show anyone I'm looking something up though. Just the next day I'll have the answer or correction etc for them.

Exactly the same for me, too. XD;;
It's kind of a pain, because it's something that can go on forEVER. D: It's way too good of a procrastination tool.;;;;

.....ffff, how was the toaster invented? XD;;;;;

It's common for curious people to research things on Google. I think that having Asperger's makes people focus more intensely on the subject. When I get interested in something, I can spend the whole day researching it. It can get in the way of things I should be doing, and messes up my sleeping pattern. It's a gift and a curse, in the words of Monk .

Wikipedia is a big one for me. Since the advances in technology and the internet I assume a lot of people do this. However, I can spend hours researching wiki. I look up anything, stupid miniscule things. So maybe it's my AS.

I can't get enough Google. My brain is a sponge, and the internet is my ocean.

I do this too. If I don't know something in a few minutes I would not only find out but read about it on dozens of different sites. It's a great way to stop from being bored.
And if I didn't know a meaning to a word I'd soon find that out too.

I find myself obsessed like that as well. Based on my browser's history from yesterday I searched for "distance between brazil and africa" when someone asked a rhetorical question about how far it is, Wimpy burgers (and what's happened to them), myers briggs test (when someone mentioned INTJ on the forum), blackadder snakes, the top level domain .UK, I think this list would go on for awhile.

Its been my experience that most people don't research things like that. At least not to the extend that I do. They might "research" where an address is, or what time a store is open, but they don't get lost for hours in what they're looking up, or go off on tangents in their research.

Yes, googling is something I do quite a bit, and it is about information, not the need to be right.

My therapist explains this as a result of the fact that Aspies are fact-based, logical, not emotion-based. So we like to have our facts straight so we can make accurate decisions and statements.

She also explained how this bugs the living daylights out of NTs, who interpret it as a need to be right, develop resentments and feel put down by Aspies. So in our efforts to get the world to make sense to ourselves, we are inadvertently rubbing NTs the wrong way.

So..... can mosquitoes bite more than once?

This happens to me too much. I look up a quick fact or something, and then it's two hours later and I've been consumed by the desire to find more information. I'm trying to stop doing it now, because it takes up too much time. I think it's a good thing to have a thirst for knowledge, though. There's something fascinating about trying to learn all these different things.

I do it so much I studied to become a reference librarian in order to put it to good use.

Wow, this is fascinating! It sure does explain a lot that has otherwise baffled me.