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What is a "normal" amount of social interaction?

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GumbyLives
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25 May 2012, 4:18 pm

According to our NT overlords, what is a "normal" amount of social interaction one should be doing, say, in a week? How much do they actually do?

Like, to avoid being seen as a loser, how many friends should one be able to claim, and how many hours a week should one be socializing with one's friends each week?


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redrobin62
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25 May 2012, 5:10 pm

I have no friends. Does that make me a loser?



Rhiannon0828
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25 May 2012, 5:33 pm

redrobin62 wrote:
I have no friends. Does that make me a loser?


It depends. From my perspective, not at all. But from the perspective of "our NT overlords", you might be found lacking. Seriously, though, I've also wondered about the answer to this question. How do you define normal?


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sacrip
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25 May 2012, 5:34 pm

That's like asking what the bare minimum time you need to spend with your girlfriend before she leaves you for ignoring her. The answer is that you're asking the wrong question.

If you hate socializing with your friends or anyone else and you don't need to, then the correct time to spend is 0 hours/week. Being seen as a loser is less important than putting yourself through agony. So, the real question is, "How do I want to live my life?" If you're happy as you are, don't change a thing. If you're not, then post again.


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Rhiannon0828
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25 May 2012, 5:48 pm

sacrip wrote:
That's like asking what the bare minimum time you need to spend with your girlfriend before she leaves you for ignoring her. The answer is that you're asking the wrong question.

If you hate socializing with your friends or anyone else and you don't need to, then the correct time to spend is 0 hours/week. Being seen as a loser is less important than putting yourself through agony. So, the real question is, "How do I want to live my life?" If you're happy as you are, don't change a thing. If you're not, then post again.


I agree. But the OP's question was to ask how much socialization is deemed normal by NT's, presumably those in charge of dx'ing disorders. I still don't know the answer, but my guess is that it would be at least a couple of hours a day. There is also the question of the quality of socialization. What degree of involvement does it need to qualify? Can it simply be the company of someone significant in your life, or is full-fleged conversation and interaction necessary?


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BottleCap
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25 May 2012, 6:16 pm

Not particularly the answer the looking for, but whatever time you need to socialize and take part in social activities in order to not feel lonely should be fine, considering that you don't become too "flaky" and stuff on friends. (;



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25 May 2012, 6:25 pm

I have a few friends and some close family I like chilling with...but none of them are 'normal' so I don't know society would be satisfied with my socialization.


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25 May 2012, 7:02 pm

I think it depends on how you socialize, if a person have everyday conversations with people in school or at work, it wont look so strange that they dont spend alot of time on close friends. And if they dont have conversations everyday with people, they would seem more average if you can tell they have close friends they talk to.
But to give an exact number of hours would be hard, since all people have completely different social life's.


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NeueZiel
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25 May 2012, 8:33 pm

More than what I get.



nikkiDT
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25 May 2012, 10:06 pm

Do what is best and most comfortable for you.



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26 May 2012, 11:12 am

I think a good general answer is to work 3 or 4 days a week and have about one day a week to hang out with friends. Of course, as other people said, everyone is different, and not everybody wants or needs lots of social interaction. But also, many people claim to hang out with their friends just so nobody thinks they lack a social life. There are a lot more people like that than this sentence even implies. The only normal social interaction is to do things you enjoy with people you enjoy being around.



GumbyLives
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26 May 2012, 5:01 pm

I was just curious, because it seems a lot of NTs just go home and veg with their family and don't do much outside socializing at all. Yet I look "weird" if I do, as well.


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27 May 2012, 2:53 am

I dunno, I have a lot of friends but I now live 2000 miles away from most of them and possibly that is a good thing. I can't handle being social more than like once every other week, seeing as I have to kind of do so 5x a week all day long at work.

Is it weird that whenever I step out for a cigarette break and there's already a person at the picnic bench my heart sinks?


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27 May 2012, 3:27 am

Whatever you need to be happy.



NicoleG
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27 May 2012, 12:21 pm

GumbyLives wrote:
I was just curious, because it seems a lot of NTs just go home and veg with their family and don't do much outside socializing at all. Yet I look "weird" if I do, as well.


By whom?

In cases like that someone else is judging your happiness based on their standards.

I think when it comes to things like psych evaluations, the psychologist is going to listen to how things are said and what's being said, and if you seem fine in his eyes, then you are getting a "normal" amount of socializing. It's all very subjective, but in the end, it's your subjectivity that determines what is normal for you.