How long do your 'obsessions' last?

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I think it is considered so indeed.

But everything has to be validated online these days (e.g. your identity), which leaves out people who haven't got iPhones or computers. They are being excluded.

I have a couple of intense life-long interests: science fiction / fantasy and making music. But those are quite wide areas, and my attention wanders into different subjects within them. (Right now, I'm into recorders, ukuleles and the piano music of Clementi...) Various secondary interests come and go. Once I've had an interest, it usually returns later. I'll be obsessed with moths for a couple of months, then forget all about them until something gets me interested again 3 years later.

Yes that's happening. I can't access many of my online bank accounts without a mobile phone to relay the text code they insist on. And some people don't even have a signal where they live. I heard they're even making ATM withdrawals and purchases in shops dependent on having a mobile phone. There must be some old people who are getting locked out of essential services.

I had this problem with online shopping for a while - my bank wanted to verify everything via a link sent to my smartphone. I don't have a smartphone.

There are, I read that online recently. Someone had to help their elderly neighbour who was trying to alter their gas bill (or something like that) but they couldn't because they could only validate their identity to the company via their smartphone or computer. They didn't have either. So how are old people going to get anything done?

My 80+ mother has a phone but she keeps clicking on spam links and now the phone has been overrun with viruses. I don't know what she's done to it, but she doesn't understand it and neither do I. Why can't we just use the old ways of proving our identity?

My dumbphone died of old age and it doesn't look like it'll be easy to replace it because they're pushing these monthly contracts so hard. As an infrequent user a monthly contract would be a huge waste of money, so I just want simple pay as I go. It's possible, but I don't think it'll be easy.

"Narrow" refers to a small aspect of a larger whole. Literature has cited examples such as being fascinated by serial numbers on cameras but not photography. Special interests do NOT need to interfere with our ability to function. I made it clear to my examiner that for me, this was not the case. I still got the diagnosis. If you knew my "obsessions" you'd have no doubt I'm an autie. I was so fixated on wood chipper deaths at one point that I actually trespassed into someone's backyard to watch someone cutting down a tree in the yard behind them. I was 45 at the time. Any time I heard a wood chipper I'd drop what I was doing, dash outside and try to find it, getting into my car and driving around. Yet this didn't interfere with my ability to function.

My "obsessions" last between seconds and a lifetime, or more.

Shortest is just a few hours. Longest can be over 10 years. I frequently get new interests. I guess my need to learn and do new things is more lasting.

Life

I always been not obsessed but Angels have been a narrow interest since I was 18. Right now I’m obsessed with Jenny Wakeman from My Life as a teenage robot and have been for 9 1/2 months. I’m trying however to get her out of my head for good. I can’t seem to have any success

I found with my obsessions like that you have to just go with it until it burns itself out. Eventually it will

The length of interest has been anything from a month to years, however I’ve found that the next interest will usually lead on from, or be related to the previous in some way.

Agree.

I've always liked figuring out how things work. Meteorology, AI, computers, mechanics in general... I can spend endless hours reading about and analyzing abnormal psychology and what motivates human and animal behaviors.

But right now, I mostly obsess over video games (puzzle, strategy, RPG). I'll play something until I master it (we're talking up to 10 hours a day) and then move on to the next game that catches my interest. It's actually better described as an addiction. There are plenty of days I wish I could just stop.

BUT when I have nothing else to do, it helps pass time. Better than staring at a wall! It would just be nice if it translated into paid work.

I am very much like you! I have what I call "rapid fire" special interests where I will have a very intense interest for a few weeks, maybe months, and then I will totally lose interest again. This is most frustrating when it's a new hobby that needs equipment which I buy and then end up with a bunch of stuff! A while ago a friend suggested we needed a neurodivergent hobby-swap club!

I also have a few long-term special interests that have stayed over the course of my lifetime, but these are quite rare and few.

I, too, have people still share stuff to me from a special interest I had about 12 years ago, and made a post on facebook about how excited I was about this thing. I'm kind of honoured that people remember, but it also confuses me still!!

My obsessions come on strong, last several months to a year or so, and then completely go away. Right now I have a mild obsession with collecting Buck knives. Which as usual started out of the blue, and I've become more and more of an expert regarding them. I'm looking to finish my modest collection with a 305 and 309 that match my others having cocobolo wood and brass handles. Sometime down the road I'll probably sell the collection.

As I've gotten older these obsession cycles have become fewer and far between.