this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2026
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Autism

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[–] jaycifer@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

The problem with microblog posts like this is that by now extrovert and introvert have lost a common meaning. I was taught to think of "social energy" as a battery. Introverts recharge their battery by doing activities alone then spend that charge by being around others, and extroverts recharge inversely by being around others then spend that charge when alone.

But a lot of people use the terms to mean being anti-social/socially anxious or being social/charismatic. The uses are related but they carry different meanings and implications, so unless the post contains the definition the poster means or a commenter specifies what they mean in their answer every conversation ends up meaningless because nobody can be certain what other people are talking about.

The context is different, but my mind always goes back to a line from the Ben Folds song Mister Peepers: "What's the rule of law if we can't agree on what a fact is?"

[–] mavu@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 days ago
[–] eksb@programming.dev 47 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I am extroverted when around neurodivergent people and introverted when around neurotypical people.

[–] MadMadBunny@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 days ago

Oh…. That explains so much for me….

[–] mika_mika@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

I am just as extroverted around both I'd say, just neurodivergent people bring up topics that pique my fancy or share interests far more frequently so I seem more excitable around them. Get.a drink in me though and then I don't care what I am talking about or to whom.

[–] TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago

I’m autistic and have been referred to as an extroverted introvert before, but I'm not sure I see the connection. I just assumed it was due to people conflating introversion with social anxiety because I'm fine with people as long as I have a lot of solo time to recharge.

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I have always been very good at making friends and have people like me, but really lack the interest in maintaining friendships

At almost 50, I tell people that I like, that it is up to them to keep this friendship running because I won't

The ones who agree are the ones who stick around

[–] jeremyparker@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

I’ve always been really good at making friends with extremely interesting people, but terrible with normal people.

My best friends, over the years:

  • a guy who travels the country working as a chef for anywhere from 3 months to a year
  • a professional ontologist (literally it’s in his title, he works at Amazon and makes $200k)
  • a guy who got laid off by an airline after 9/11 and used his flight benefits to build a solo business importing crap from Turkey
  • an unmarried gay couple who are both schizophrenic (neither one can work so they’re poor as shit), one is a guitarist and the other is a bassist and they’re amazing
  • a mathematician who grew up in poverty and now works in biotech and talks more to his plants than any humans
  • a philosophy professor who somehow manages to make the dullest philosophical ideas sound like the shadows between the petals of a flower
  • a guy who takes old furniture from an abandoned IBM office park and sells it to Japanese people online (it’s all Herman Miller shit) and makes music from outer space
  • a former protege of a famous experimental filmmaker who opened a mirage clothing store in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere
  • a high school art teacher who is objectively the most inspired and inspiring person I’ve ever met in my life (also he knows kung fu)
  • a seemingly endless stream of freaks, weirdos, and rejects from the rooms of AA (i thought i was an alcoholic/drug addict for a long time, turns out I was just autistic) — former junkies, prostitutes, homeless derelicts, and (former!) absolute monsters…

I’ve had extremely good luck, they’re very cool.

[–] Coelacanth@feddit.nu 3 points 1 week ago

I am completely the same. Maybe I should start telling people outright.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 3 points 1 week ago

When i was younger i would travel around a lot, go to concerts and stuff like that. Places where you'd meet a lot of people. A lot of these people i met asked me for my e-mail or phone number to stay in touch. I was always like: no thanks. A lot of them were pretty perplexed, but i'm not gonna stay friends with some random person that lives 500 to 8000km away.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've only ever been close to neurodivergent people and remain highly introverted with extroverted moments (when I have a valid reason to be outgoing). Yet it took me almost half my life to suspect I might be a little autistic.

[–] SigmarStern@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago

When all your friends around you are getting diagnosed and then your kids, then and only then will you start asking some serious questions about yourself...

[–] uber_chicken@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

Me 🤚

Starting to figure a lot of stuff out about myself and situations I've been in. I'm a lot happier and a lot more miserable at the same time

[–] em2@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Not really extroverted. I just mask that well. 🙃

[–] Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 days ago

This is the camp I'm in.

[–] sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wait is that related? Why would that be related?

[–] essell@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

The "extroversion" is a mask / coping / compensation for the "introversion" of the autistic traits.

[–] Casuls_Die_Thrice@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

I was fairly active on Instagram in high school (no, I won’t say the handle I had; it was cringe AF looking back), yet quite reserved IRL; sure enough, it was the summer between sophomore & junior year that I was diagnosed with Asperger’s.