Collecting information about people as a child

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I was thinking about something about my AS and how it has impacted the relationships that I have with people from my past.

When I was a child, I used to mentally collect information about my classmates and others in my life. Information such as where they lived at, what their parents did for a living, had they had any operations and other personal information of the like. A lot of times, my interactions would be questioning classmates about personal information.

I am noticing that when I get older, it is impacting how I relate to these people. For some reason, I think that this has made seem that I was closer to some of these people than I actually was. At times, it has caused tension in my relationships.

Did anyone else every do this? Was your interactions as a child more for the purposes of information gathering?

I think that's how my relationships were in 5th grade up until 8th grade, but anytime before that, I didn't even research anything aside from one report we did in, like, 3rd grade. So I guess that as soon as I had the concept of researching and collecting information, then I practiced it on people. It was at the same time I decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be a human encyclopedia.* My point is that I tried to learn anything about everything, including my friends. I guess we were close, but I didn't feel anything special toward them.

*That dream failed, but I turned it into the dream of being a human "music encyclopedia," with which I am a success. Of course this requires remembering information everyday, which I'm so happy I do. It's handy.

I still do that, but without the questioning, since I never talk much (I swear Im not wired for reciprocity).

When I was a child animals talked and people barked, meowed and hissed.

I didn't talk to people nor did I have enough interest in them to gather information. Oh but I could tell you all about spiders, bats, cats, dog, and dinosaurs. I could tell you about my cat and dogs' personality. But who were these people I called mum, dad, brother and sister? I didn't know them at all.

Oh my God....Harriet the Spy!

I have never thought about this before. I loved, loved, loved her. I am now wondering if she was an aspie.

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

I did that, as a child. If a person seemed nice, they were my friend, and if they acted nasty, they were my enemy. I try to gauge by looks, now.

Not as much as a child as when I was in my teens and did like to collect pieces of information on my classmates in the way described by the OP. In high school the students were selected (anyway it had established a reputation of an exclusive school, it's the oldest high school in the whole country that still works from what I know - well, that was at least what I once heard from a tour guide when they were showing the historic buildings of my town to the participants when I was overhearing them; at summer time guides run down in hordes in here) there wasn't such a variety concerning the students' social background and stuff, anyway half of them were from the neighboring towns and villages so I didn't hear anything about their families. In elementary school I knew from the gossip whose parents abused alcohol or whose family was inefficient in terms of raising children etc., but high school was different in this respect.

As a child? I still do! Obviously, I don't interact with my close friends and family in this way. (My interactions with them tend to be monologues on my special interests.) But I talk to people I don't know well in an information-gathering way. That's why people think I don't have a problem with small talk. It's just a coincidence that small talk tends to revolve around info I like to know. I enjoy learning people's birthdays, how many siblings they have, what they majored in during college, and (when I was still in college) their class schedules/professors. Birthdays are my favorite piece of information to know. I don't know why. I just like how you can associate a specific date with every existing person.
-OddDuckNash99-

I did collect information about people when I was a child and still do it today; however, I never asked direct questions. I prefer a more naturalistic approuch when studying an organism.

It can be problematic when trying to form a close relationship, and I have been working on reducing how much I engage in this behavior. So, while I do not have any advice, I do look forward to reading any advice given.

I did that as a child and still do as an adult but not to the same extent. But I was more into collecting information about things and topics.

This is going to sound really strange. I would sort people in catagories and sub catagories based on their facial appearance. Under the eyes catagory, there would be sub catagories of color, size, shape, etc. Mentally I sorted everyone I knew and was constantly comparing them with each other. I would get excited when I would come across someone new to add. I wasn't a talker especially so around strangers. I would listen to any conversation going on that would reveal their name. If I never heard their name, I gave them one. I would sometimes listen to conversations and collect and memorize what I heard. But I didn't ask. I use to sort everyone I knew by their Zodiac Sign mentally as a child too. My mother was an Astrologer when I was a child.
Taupey

I would gather information on everyone, but without asking questions. I even do this as an adult.

For example, in college, I would learn the name of everyone in class and other available information about them as well. I could go weeks without talking to anyone, but I would be learning about everyone. It helped me make some sense out of the seemingly random classroom interactions. I would notice where people went, who they were with and when they went there. I would then locate myself at a time and place that would maximize my chance at a successful social interaction.

I just realized I am somewhat of a mass stalker.

didnt you ever blackmail siblings with embarassing childhood photos