Is it normal to suddenly want to get rid of all friends?

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I can relate a lot to this thread in general and this post specifically.

It sounds like what you need is someone who can understand and accept you. We all desire that in some ways we need our me time but when we get into other groups whether they be personal relationships or platonic we like you said do not want to lose the essence of who we are to bend to other people.

Though its funny because we often expect people to bend to our way of thinking.

I can also relate to this post a lot.

I've been realizing lately that makes me tick seems to be very different from what makes others tick. For instance, I love going to lectures, I love reading, I love studying and then I come across people who tell me "I should take a break". Is it really their business as to what I choose to do with my life? I'm not going to take a break if I love what I do. I don't care about most aspects of socializing except for when I can have a good debate with someone about a topic of interest or analyze other people's behaviour through discussion with someone else (which is a strong interest of mine). Otherwise, I hate it when people stick their nose in my business and start asking about/commenting on what I wear, what I eat, what I do for fun, etc. Just a plain exchange of information about yourself is okay but when people share their unsolicited opinions and feelings on things about me, even if they are compliments, it irritates the heck out of me.

My biggest motivator for socializing has always been to maintain open-mindedness about things, but the overpoliteness/weird social norm-based self-sensorship/indirectness on behalf of other people just irritates me so much that socializing is not really worth it. Socializing with others on the spectrum is something I have done in the past, but my interests and way of thinking have become very different from most people in the ASD community lately, so it's become a challenge either way. I don't really fit anywhere at this point and am okay not connecting personally. I think you can still maintain useful relationships in your life and be there for others without necessarily making the personal commitment of a friendship.

I don't enjoy unstructured social interactions either, which are mostly centered around food or conversation. If it is centered around conversation, it gets exhausting very quickly, as I don't often understand the unspoken rules. Without structure, it is very easy to break a 'rule'. Food doesn't do much to break this awkwardness.

Your situation with your friends sounds almost exactly like what I've been going through.

I've just come out of a very introspective period following a lot of changes in my life. For a while, I didn't want to see anyone and found it hard to communicate with people. Now that things have stabilized, I feel more open again. Not exactly in need of interaction, but more open to new experiences, curious. If that makes sense.

Just had a think, and wanted to say; new stages in life can feel like a snake leaving its old skin behind. Sometimes the way forward is not immediately clear.

Perhaps you have indeed lost your need for most of your friends. Ditching all of them simultaneously seems a bit drastic, though.

No, it's not normal. It's a symptom of AS. It's not a good idea to jettison all your friends - you might not feel the need to see them now, but at some point in your life you'll regret cutting them out for ever. If you don't feel like socialising at the moment just keep a low profile until you do.

I want to revive this because I've been wondering... Could this be the sign of something else, like Schizoid PD, or is it really just an AS thing? Maybe my real question should have been, is it normal for a person with AS to not want to have friends/be social on their own time?

The reason is, there are some people with ASD who want to be social and others who don't at all. The divide between these two sub-groups is interesting.

I'm still asocial and not picking up the phone when people call just to chat. I work with kids and interact with my co-workers. I have no problem doing that, as they don't bug me about personal stuff - it's all on a topic that's in my zone of focus (i.e., work-related logistics). I go home and retreat into my own bubble of sensory stuff, cooking, working out, and academics.

I do need some advice sometimes but professional advice is enough. I just extract info from people and run with it, lol.