NTs and how they view your interests?

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I have what is ,I believe, a heightened interest in doing online tests (IQ and other). Several times NTs have called me out on it. Admittedly I post quite a lot about the results, but as far as I can see I'm not harming anyone though I might be boring them. Often such remarks from NTs smack of disapproval , ie 'How could you be so obsessed with that?' , though I believe my interest is at the milder end of the scale compared to the interests of some here.

I think that much of the problem with NTs stems from their absolute belief that they, and only they, are normal. If something doesn't appeal to them, they believe it shouldn't appeal to anybody. There might even be some sort of superiority complex about it. It seems to tie up to their idea of being right - some sort of competition re "my interests are better than yours"? An NT might think, "If I don't understand your interest, then you are wrong." Which is gibberish. I can't see why they have to complain at all.

Autistic obsessions tend to clash with the tendency of those with typical wiring to crave variety or novelty. It's actually a cornerstone of neurotypical psychology and one of the main driving forces behind consumerism. I think it's the reason why my NT family reacts the way they do to my obsessions - saying that it's useless, irritating, etc. I've been scolded for wasting time on obsessions when I could be devoting myself to more productive hobbies or been limited to "one fact a day" when I over-shared. I don't think that it's anything to hold against them. They view my fixations the same way that I view most small talk in conversations - boring, pointless, annoying. I can respect our differences, I just have to find other outlets. I've often kept notebooks and journals, or even written novels, about my special interests. These give me a place to obsess - and pouring out all of that information someplace is often an important part of a fixation. I've found that if I commit those rantings to paper, I feel less of a need to pester the people around me. You could try creating a blog or starting a diary for that purpose.

I 've tried keeping a diary in the past. It was a struggle to fill a page as I don't do much.

I have no idea whether my interests are 'mainstream' or not. Some probably are, others probably aren't, but it's not something that I can grasp fully. The major difference, however, is that my interests are more intense than those of the average NT. For example, if it's interesting or satisfying enough to me then I can read the same book many times without becoming bored, or listen to the same song, or watch the same film or the same YouTube video, or eat the same meal.

I also do online tests quite regularly, and online quizzing (trivia) has been a strong interest of mine for several years.

Depends on the obsession... When I became interested in birds as a kid, everyone encouraged it, the school got me a bird book, my grandma bought me binoculars and bird feeders, etc...

But other things I've gotten obsessions over like Pokemon and Sonic was seen as very unusual because of my age.

I think the bird thing people thought "look how smart she is!" While the video game stuff in high school and college people seen it as "immature"

Also views have changed since autism spectrum has become more well known, I think as a kid they seen the bird obsession as "smart" but nowadays I get people asking or thinking if I have Asperger's...

If someone (AS or NT) will not accept my special interests, I will not accept them. End of story.