autism and computer problems (NOT tech issues)

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buryuntime
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15 Aug 2011, 11:39 pm

I am wondering how autism affects one's computer use, especially information wise.

Does anyone else get information overload on the computer? I find some sites impossible for me to read because there will be too much text jammed into them on different frames, or there is too much scrolling involved, too many pages to click on, too many links, etc. I try to avoid Youtube as much as possible because the mixture of different forms of output is too crazy for me to deal with.

It takes me awhile to not be stressed out with a website sometimes, to the point where it all seems familiar to me and so it doesn't overwhelm me. I get this with the software I use too, the options and whatnot. I stick with the same version of software as long as possible. I have to look at the options menu several times typically in order to find what I need and to familiarize myself.

I even find it stressful to look up a file on my computer. To find an image I will have to find the correct folders to click on and then find the image, which requires scrolling through many or recalling then locating the file name, and by the time I'm done I'm overwhelmed and can't do much else.

I love to chat but it also gets overwhelming. In IRC I get to where I can't read what is being said because my brain can't process it.

To all appearances, I use the computer fine albeit minor frustration sometimes. But that isn't how it is on the inside. I wonder if anybody else has such issues, and I especially wonder if such issues keep autistics from not being able to use computers.

I realize such a topic might be limited to those with minimal to no problems because of where I'm asking.



SammichEater
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16 Aug 2011, 12:11 am

This is completely foreign to me. I have no problems with using a computer.

Although, I will say that sometimes software revisions do bother me at first. I hate it when things get moved around, and I have to relearn everything.


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katzefrau
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16 Aug 2011, 3:04 am

buryuntime wrote:
Does anyone else get information overload on the computer? I find some sites impossible for me to read because there will be too much text jammed into them on different frames, or there is too much scrolling involved, too many pages to click on, too many links, etc.


yes. same. or i can't tolerate the contrast or just can't find anything, and (like in a grocery store) looking around makes me dizzy and anxious. i have trouble looking at small patterns also - they start to blink. so contrasting colors of background and text on a website will do the same thing. i'm forever turning the brightness down on my computer and it doesn't help too much.

someone here gave me this link once and it's really helpful, if it's just an article you want to read.
http://www.readability.com/

i too get software menu overload and can sometimes just only do things in small spurts if i i'm unfamiliar with menu options. there are too many options. they cram too many features into most software, and the ease of whatever the primary use is gets lost. ms word is the worst, with the little lightning bolt squares that pop up when you paste something or move something around .. i never can remember how to get rid of them and i can't see my text, and i get really angry at the program. and it's always correcting things and doing things i don't ask it to do. i can't stand it.

if a website won't load, too, and i don't know why, i go ballistic. any time something goes wrong and i don't know why, i get upset.



obviously all this does not prevent me from using the computer, but it does sometimes prevent me from getting information i need. but it's not just the computer. i can't fill out any complicated paperwork either without some of the same issues coming up. to someone else it probably just looks like impatience, but it's not.


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ezekiel
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16 Aug 2011, 11:04 am

Yes. Too much info and color and motion presented at once triggers my "overwhelmed" reaction. WrongPlanet is actually one of the worst about this with the colors and moving ads. There are browser plugins to turn off the fancy stuff and just see the text. I use them sometimes.

And, the worst thing on the computer is the File Browser, as you describe. I cannot imagine inventing a user interface more foreign to the way my mind works. Every folder and every navigation is another intense mental computation--and chance to forget what I was looking for (bad short term memory). Long ago, I used other file tools including command line utilities. I need to get back into that. Give the command line a try.



dancing_penguin
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16 Aug 2011, 11:45 am

I'm extremely good with computers (like capable of advanced tech support stuff, here).

My Mom, on the other hand, who I strongly suspect of also being an Aspie, is practically terrified of computers. Apparently she had a bad experience once (30 years ago?) where she was taking computer lessons and someone apparently blamed her for accidentally breaking one somehow by pressing the wrong button somewhere (I presume they were joking) and she has since gone extremely out of her way to avoid interacting with them at all. I've tried teaching her a little back in high school, but it just doesn't seem to click. She's capable of learning all sorts of other stuff, but computers, no (I suspect some sort of a mental block in there).
Part of the tragic irony here is that she trained after her high school days to be a secretary, and is quite competent with the typewriter (but of course no one uses those anymore).



Kellaway225
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16 Aug 2011, 1:01 pm

Yeah im very good with computers and they have become an Obsession with me now, so i dont really get any sort of problem from them - minus serve migraines but hey



buryuntime
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16 Aug 2011, 2:32 pm

Quote:
Yes. Too much info and color and motion presented at once triggers my "overwhelmed" reaction. WrongPlanet is actually one of the worst about this with the colors and moving ads. There are browser plugins to turn off the fancy stuff and just see the text. I use them sometimes.

And, the worst thing on the computer is the File Browser, as you describe. I cannot imagine inventing a user interface more foreign to the way my mind works. Every folder and every navigation is another intense mental computation--and chance to forget what I was looking for (bad short term memory). Long ago, I used other file tools including command line utilities. I need to get back into that. Give the command line a try.

Could you provide the plugins you use? I am using FF. I have one that turns a page purely into text, but with such I am unable to write forum replies here. I'd like to be able to strip a page to functional bareness-- this would just be the usual white box with text imput, whatever I can turn off to make it still work. I already block ads.

Also, I'm quite obsessed with my computer use and don't think myself incompetent with them. So those things aren't independent from what I am describing.



buryuntime
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16 Aug 2011, 2:37 pm

Quote:
someone here gave me this link once and it's really helpful, if it's just an article you want to read.
http://www.readability.com/

yeah! I forgot all about readability. It's perfect for articles. Thanks.

Quote:
if a website won't load, too, and i don't know why, i go ballistic. any time something goes wrong and i don't know why, i get upset.

I can relate to this as well. If something does not work on the computer, I become quite upset. I think it's because it interrupted me from something so I have to stop my actions and thoughts and put them to the side to solve the problem and I can't hold on to the previous stuff and figure out that stuff without being frustrated and overwhelmed. It takes more to make me ballistic/really upset though.



Artros
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16 Aug 2011, 2:38 pm

Basically my only problem with computers is if websites are simply too busy. Animated avatars or pictures in signatures are very annoying and a bit of a turn-off. There are a number of websites (usually blogs) which have pictures and text over it. If this happens, I have to select all the text so that it gets a uniform background or I'm unable to read anything.


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HK416N
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16 Aug 2011, 2:45 pm

I hate the moving ads
whatever is standing still is fine, never too many of that



MakaylaTheAspie
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16 Aug 2011, 3:01 pm

It irritates me when I'm using someone else's computer, because they always seem to have issues with them. Not that mine is perfect either. :roll:

But other than that, I can usually handle most problems.


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johnsmcjohn
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16 Aug 2011, 3:49 pm

My single biggest passion right now is computers. I feel like I am at my best when I am in front of a screen. For example, I have 5 windows open right now. I almost feel like I was wired to be at home with a computer.