Does the internet satisfy your need for human contact?

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Do you feel satisfied by the contact you get with people on the internet or are you still lonely?

I never feel lonely myself as I love my own company, I mostly socialise with people in order to exchange opinions rather than for emotional support so I find message boards and forums (fora for the Romans) satisfy me more than face to face encounters. Its also hard to find people with common interests in real life as most people seem to be most interested in themselves and the weather. Topics that are not so interesting for me.

Thanks for any opinions on this question.

yes most AS dont feel the need to connect with others in a face to face manner and the internet is a great substitute for this and preffered by me and a lot of AS.
the AS who feel a need to conenct with live people are the ones who want to attempt to learn socialisation ( healthy) or feel a need to want to connect to appear normal ( unhealthy)

Yes and no.

Through the Internet I'm certainly able to have enough contact with people. It's just like you meet predominantly one type of person though i.e. they are lonely for some good reason.

That's been my experience.

So it's a question of quality and quantity.

I would encourage what real life socialisation you can get.

No, it doesn't.

I need to be with people, being face-to-face not for emotional support but because somehow I like that a lot better than the Internet. I'm going to ponder on why exactly I do very much prefer talking to people in face-to-face than over the Internet...

One thing certainly is language.

Internet only works with written communication and I work with non-verbal though autistic communication best. I dislike talking in language only, because language doesn't reflect well what I want to express. As a consequence, people misunderstand me and assume they knew me though they do not.

When I am face-to-face with a person, I can express myself better in some aspects, but of course worse in verbal communication. I am not able to just say what I express in essays that I write in some forums on the internet about a certain topic. If somebody would want to have a philosophical discussion with me in real life, they can forget that right away.

Interesting enough, people in real life usually are very surprised when they read philosophical essays of me in written form. Likewise, those who know me by such essays cannot believe and if they experience it, cannot understand why I can't express the same in person.

I do love writing, but as much as it is awesome, it's also an ugly and frustrating process. Very same with talking. I love to talk, there are times when I can talk non-stop while at others I can't talk. And then I love to chat, do small talk, get silly, sing even though I want to, my brain doesn't allow me to express verbally what I can do in written form.

Which in short means, I see very personal advantages and disadvantages in written and spoken communication that affect me, but not so much my preferences and wants.

I prefer talking in person in favour of keeping complex thoughts inside, because I'm used to it. I love being able to exchange ideas as I find it fascinating that other people have different views and thoughts. But that is still a situation I do not find very natural to go about. I didn't start writing down my mind, writing anything (outside school during which I disliked it and resisted it) until I was about 11 or 12 years old.

There's always a certain degree of discomfort when I am writing an essay and especially when I am asked to answer questions to it. I'm not good with that, because suddenly people ask of me to write to them, have a conversation with them that involve having to understand them while talking about complex ideas and theories.

The two concepts don't go well together in my mind.

Either I stick to a simple topic and then I can understand the person's responses. Or I stick to complex topics and I cannot understand the other person's responses.

I enjoy talking to people because they're different these days. I think I'm somewhat past the purely functional and 'used to it' state. (E.g. order a drink, ask for food, answer questions for others.)

I just want to know how they see the world. I neither asked them for this until 2-3 years before. That's all so new. I live on a planet with odd people and I'm incredibly curious for any chance to study these strange creatures all other here, out there, just at any place. All of you including here are weird, but I find that to be pretty cool!

I got sick of being the only person all the time. I'm hard to satisfy when it comes to curiosity and hunger for knowledge of what caught my interest. Which is essentially why human contact over the Internet does not satisfy me. I don#t get it, unless it's conversational. And even then, I cannot really get access to it.

Here, in the Random Discussion, it pretty much all goes over my head, I have no idea how you folks can talk like that to each other. In everyday life however, I can regulate that all just fine, make people talk to me in certain ways and also observe them all the while, so I prefer face-to-face contact for this reason too.

lol no

It's a lot easier for me to "converse" through forums than in person. I still get lonely sometimes (even when surrounded by lots of people), but the internet makes it more bearable.

No. The internet is certainly not a cure for loneliness.

internet socialization is usually good enough, as i dont get out of the house much, and sometimes when i do i feel overhwelmed by a large amount of people. usually to satisfy my social needs ill invite a good friend or two over to my house, go over to their house, or have random misadventures at a park or a small shop within walking distance. but when thats not an option, im quite content with talking to people on the internet

Maybe I shouldnt answer because I'm not really Aspie (my son is), but I would say what the internet can provide is very different from what real life contact can provide. What I enjoy is the exchange of ideas with people of like mind who may be far away, and the exchange of ideas with people of different mind who I might never chat with in real life. In many ways, it functions as a window into worlds that are not easily accessed in real life. And, because I'm hearing impaired, I can exchange those ideas without the frustration of a million "what?" like I have in real life. It is a level of conservation that I am now denied in face to face contact. Properly processing the verbal information has simply become too difficult.

But while my mind is alive here, the rest of me isn't. The more I talk in this medium, the less energy I have. The less I do. That energy, and inspiration, comes from people, real world people.

The same is actually true for my AS son. He is social/sensory seeking, even though it is obviously more difficult for him. But he loses part of who he is when he isn't around his friends. He needs that. And, yes, he has friends. Not super close friends, but friends who care.

I find the vast majority of people I meet are annoying in some way. Too loud, too stupid, too ignorant, too talkative, too friendly etc.. And the more time I spend with someone, the more that person annoys me. I also lose interest in people even if I liked them previously, they will start to annoy or bore me. I've never had any long term relationship because of this. This problem does not really arise on the internet as I am not conversing with specific people most of the time and the annoying ones are easy to ignore on the internet. I've noticed that forums like this one have satisfied my limited social needs.

I prefer communicating in writing because I used to have a stutter/stammer and therefore could not communicate fluently until a few years ago. I am fluent now but conversation usually bores me intensely.

Of course I'm aware of the necessity for face to face socialisation if I wish to pass on my genetic material or establish a long term relationship. This is not an important thing to me so if it happens then I will be happy, but if it doesn't happen it won't bother me at all.

I am quite close to my family and get on very well with my mother and older brother, less well with my younger brother. I also have a special cat I adore who is plenty of company for me.

Thanks for the answers so far.

Of course not, all humans regardless of their conditions, wants to have real contact with people, I would prefer being around my friends, drinking beer and sitting around the firepit, then being on here, the internet is no substitute for the real thing.

I never really thought about it that way. I am very satisfied to have found this site. I never knew there were other people who think like me, and I rather enjoy reading everyone's thoughts. However, it is hard for me to identify with anyone here as a real person...if that makes any sense.

Yes, I find that contact through the Internet is more preferable to me than RL meetings. I have social anxiety and the sometimes overwhelming worry of making a mistake, misreading comments and actions, and just too many people really bothers me. I like going out by myself, but only when no one really knows me and I can jsut go through without interaction.