Autism and Screen Time: Special Brains, Special Risks

[Sportster]

. . .

 

[Mattymatt]

I believe a few of these are applicable to me and I am in my 40s.

 

[Warmheart]

Actually, I put myself “ on a diet” with screentime, because I’m autistic. It is addicting, and 4 hours of my life can quickly be gone. I can miss my appointment with life. Engaging with the real world is difficult, it is a muscle I must flex, and too much screen time makes engaging with the world that much harder to do. Also, my sensory needs don’t get met with too much sitting, and I become more irritable/meltdown-prone.
To stay better regulated, I need movement, fresh air, and plenty of sensory activity. I do allow myself screentime to decompress, but for myself, I need to limit it.
I am grateful you started this thread! Thank you.

 

[pjcnet]

Well I was in a lot of ways worse before I got introduced to computers in 1979 with the Commodore Pet and I had severe behaviour issues that seemed to somewhat calm when my mind was fully occupied, since then I have spent all my spare time in front of a computer and often to obsess, the only time I had a real issue was when I was deprived of it, E.g. when forced to go away on holiday as a teen lol, remember there was no laptops in those days! Also the report refers to a lot of stuff I'm very sceptical about such as EMFs for instance and playing video games can help sensory and motor integration (I also passed my driving test at 17 years old which is the youngest age to drive in the UK and I drove for over 2 decades nearly every day without a single accident including all over the UK before illness prevented me from driving any more, I surely couldn't have done that with poor motor integration and that's one trait I don't seem to have). There's numerous people over obsessive with porn sites on the Internet, not just aspies, that's why it's a multi billion dollar industry, I believe most people have at some point looked, although to myself it soon became boring and I can't understand why some people spend so much time collecting porn videos Etc. (they're virtually all the same after a while).

 

[Sherlock77]

I just spent six hours wandering around in the cold asking strangers if I could take their photo, got 11 street portraits... Real human contact...

Seriously now... I watch my screen time, admittedly when I'm at home my computer and internet is usually one, but I also go out lots, rarely look at my phone as I'm out and about... At night I usually have the phone re-charged before going to bed, turn it off and go to bed, so I can just sleep...

 

[SusanLR]

I didn't have screen-time growing up.
I had hobbies such as painting, gardening, reading and many pets to take up my time.

I wasn't introduced to the pass-time of a PC until I was way past teens. Once I did start playing with them I was hooked, true.
It helps calm my nerves and focus my mind.
I've never had trouble sleeping.
I don't know that I can agree with a lot of the article.
It doesn't fit my experience.
The desire for social contact has remained the same throughout my life. Pretty much nil.
Eye contact and anxiety was worse than after I got into hours of screen-time.

I do agree being outside in fresh air and nature are good for anyone. Big difference if I don't get to do that on a daily basis.
Physical exercise is great and can be fun until you realise age is starting to prevent it from being as fun as it once was.
Most of the reason for it IS inflammatory conditions.
I know stress hormones cause it.
Not sure the computer screen is to blame since it didn't start bothering me until after the big change in my living arrangements.

For children and young adults it can become a problem.
An addiction depriving them from other activities.
Thank goodness I am not into the I-phones and smart phones. It seems to be a true obsession for most when you look at people who can't put them down.

 

[Ambi]

I didn't grow up with the internet (and I wasn't glued to screens for video games, movies, etc.). But these things seem to apply to me now as an adult! Thank you for sharing.

 

[Chance]

The article is interesting, but frankly I think it could apply to adults just as easily. I'm 57-years-old and can identify several of the problems that affect children. Computers and video games weren't around during my formative years, but yet I have never slept well. In fact, I cannot recall a time in my life when I slept through the night without the aid of something.

Just a very small of adult rewording, and I would think this would fit a vast amount of adult ASD people.
It only makes sense. We were kids with it...

However, (in my case and maybe many others) I did over come some of it, yet in some ways some of it might even be worse today, because of stupid traumatic subconscious stuff and just a more worn nervous system... Not sure really?

Good read Sport.

 

[WildCat]

This makes me wonder if I've done irreversible damage at this point, considering that I get more than the usual fill of non-human screen time. I seriously need to do something if it's as bad as the article claims.