Which group did/do you fall in to as a teen/young adult?

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Joined: 8 May 2025
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30 Dec 2025, 8:37 am

I envy spectrumers who had a decent group of friends to go out and do things with. I had none of that really. I had no friends during my early teens.
I had a best friend when I was 16, then at college I had a group of friends for a while but then we began going our separate ways and the ones I had left started bullying me, so I had to distance myself from them, once again left with very little friends except one or two I'd text and just meet up occasionally.

Sounds more like the typical life of a kid with severe autism, not a quirky Aspie with functioning social skills. Maybe I was just undesirable for friendships.

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Edna3362
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30 Dec 2025, 9:06 am

I'm a shut in as a teenager due to sheer burnout. I wouldn't survive without actually shutting in and stop going to school.
Tho, having an online life kept me sane.

As an young adult, I play catch up.
10+ years of experience says? I'm not learning, the idea that "I'm still too young" had utterly wasted said years of my life, and I only get real progress when undoing unwanted processed crap.
Else I'm practically up and about outdoors. Just minus the drinking and drugs or any of that.

Now?
I reconnected with my old online life.
It had held way more meaning for me than I ever been through longer in real life.
It's like I continued where I left off, just that many had left throughout the years for the same reasons I left to begin with.

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Fishyfisherton
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30 Dec 2025, 12:35 pm

Tamaya wrote:

Teens are more judgemental and insecure so it's the worst time for making friends even if you're relatively high-functioning tbh. Teens are too afraid of being "uncool" to be seen with anyone "uncool". Adults are more appreciative of quirkiness I think. My teens were similarly lonely though I did have close friends. And I don't present as a typical, frank presentation autist, either. Not like the boys usually do. But I'm clearly eccentric in some way.
I think the key to having a healthy social circle as an adult sperg is getting into niche hobbies. Fandoms and such. We have to think outside the box a bit to find our crowd, rather than try to make it big with turbonormies and being left wanting.

Also what you said previously about art class being a let down is such a mood lol. I took art and design in college and expected to be given free reign to do art projects I always wanted to do. But it was just as regimented as school so I used to draw whatever I felt like, usually stuff I'm interested in, and then use mental gymnastics to make it relevant to the module we were given. Needless to say I failed the exam and never retook the subject. I prefer to draw what I want and teach myself that way. I'm much better at learning things if I can use my established interests as primary motivator. But yeah I hated how regimented art class actually was, we were told to make specific things in specific styles. No thanks.

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Tamaya
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30 Dec 2025, 1:58 pm

Fishyfisherton, are you sure you're not me? :lol: You have the exact same experiences at me lol. I like you.