Relying on certain objects/making them ''your whole life''

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Wasn't sure where to put this since I have no proof that it's AS-related or not, but I find I get attached to electrical objects like my mobile phone, my MP3, and my computer. This is because I jam so much stuff on to them that I get attached to.

For example,
I've had my MP3 player for over 3 years now, and I rely on it so much that I'm not going to know what to do if it stopped working. It's lasted all this time but it might not last forever, which is what I'm panicking about. OK, this may sound really unique to even other Aspies, but I have over 300 songs that I have RECORDED on to my MP3, and if my MP3 packs up it will take me a LONG time to tape all those back on to a new MP3, plus the sound might have a more tinned sound on a newer MP3 when songs are recorded. I have tried to get the recorded songs up on my laptop to store for safe-keeping and for back-up, but I don't know how to do it, since my media-player doesn't seem to work on my new laptop. (Why I have recorded so much on to my MP3 is a long story, I won't explain here because it'd make the post too long to read and I'm trying to keep it as short as possible).
Also with my mobile it was a problem getting a new one because I had so much videos, pictures, notes, voice-recorders, and even messages on it that for some reason became sentimental to me that I didn't want to delete them, so when I got my new phone I had to bluetooth them all on to my new phone. But I don't have notepad on my new phone so I can't write notes down on it.
And when I got my laptop I had to get my cousin to come round and help me transfer all my files from my old computer on to my laptop because I didn't want to lose them all, since they had somehow become so sendimental that losing them was like a matter of life and death with me.

Anyone become too reliant on your favourite objects?

Last edited by Joe90 on 02 Jun 2012, 4:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I made a thread about intense object obsession the other day. I'm obsessed with my j-bass, and with music in general, so much that often, when it's at home and I'm elsewhere, I get painfully bored because I'd rather be playing it. I actually bring it with me often, when I go places. Sometimes it can make getting tasks done difficult because sometimes I can only really think about wanting to play it, or I'll feel bad because I haven't played it for most of a day, or something like that. I don't go a single day without playing it.

Why dont you get an ipod and itunes? that way your music has to be loaded onto itunes before it can be transferred to your pod, so you can never lose your music, unless you happen to lose both your ipod and your computer at the same time. I actually didnt think there were still mp3 players around that didnt have to be tethered to a media library to transfer songs across.

As for being attached to inanimate objects, I guess I am, but not out fo any sort of fear of losing the stuff on them, mainly just because I have memories attached to them, like I still keep my first ever guitar, even though its really crappy and I have better ones, just because its the one I have memories of learning to play on it and playing my first song (wonderwall by oasis). Im attached to my computer because its become my portal to the world, I hate being without access to the internet nowadays, just makes me feel totally cut off. Same with my phone, I feel naked without it being in my pocket.

I dont think its an AS thing though. Its a human condition to become attached to things you own, be it due to monetary value of said items or emotional attachment/assigning memories or sentimental value to them.

True, but I literally record my songs on to my MP3, so the sound goes straight on to the MP3. It's really a voice recorder, but I use it to make a collection of different songs that I can't find on CDs or haven't got, so I just got on to Youtube and press ''record'' on my MP3 and literally tape the song from Youtube on to my MP3. I have over 300 of these, which I can't download from the internet because some are from films. Like for example if I like a theme song of a programme, I record it. It's a cheaper, easier way to do it, but I can't get it to come up on my computer even by connecting the MP3 to the computer and adding it to my music folder, it still doesn't seem to come up. I do the copy and paste technique, but nothing pastes in the folder. Why can't things just be more simple?!

So I'm at risk of losing all 300 songs. Also, I love the way the songs are arranged on my MP3. They are all obviously arranged by date, so the very first few songs I ever recorded were dated back to 2009 when I first got my MP3, so those songs remind me of 2009, and so on. So even if I did somehow get them on to my computer then got a new iPod and was able to put them on to the iPod like you would with downloaded songs, they still might not be in their original order.

Oh right, never thought of doing it that way myself, pretty ingenious . There are programs available to rip songs digitally from youtube etc. Havent used them myself though. About the songs not showing up in your music floder, is your mp3 player set to read only? thats the only thing i can think of that would stop you being able to copy and paste.

Itunes lets you create playlists btw, so you could still set your music up to play in a certain order if you wished. Its pretty easy to use too if you arent too good with computers etc.

I rely on my acer netbook. If that was ever to die off, I don't know what I'd do. I'm saving my money right now in case something like that actually happens. I'll buy myself an orange one if it happens. They go for $250 at Best Buy.

I have a similar issue to the original poster's, now that I think of it. On my phone I have about 30 gigabytes of music (about 55 gigabytes of music on there in total) that I only have on my phone, and my phone for some reason won't interface with my computer via USB - it just won't work at all - nothing wrong with the phone though, it's the computer causing trouble. So I can't really store it and it's just sitting there on my phone. I had a moment of panic once when I thought the micro SD card in my phone had died - fortunately that wasn't the case though. Plus I always have a ton of recordings made by my phone on there, usually to capture musical ideas that I have - often I just leave it recording while I play. I have to empty that fairly frequently though, so that stuff gets put on my computer regularly via bluetooth and then deleted off the phone, but I usually have some recordings that haven't been transfered yet.

Special intrests/obsessions have always been my strongest autistic trait. I always found it easier to form bonds with inanimate objects than actual people.