Describe your experience with crowds…

[Rodafina]

Crowds

Interesting to observe from afar

The periphery feels safer than the center

I prefer empty spaces to crowded places

Agree with @tree that a room with 3 feels crowded

 

[AutisticMilly]

It depends on the crowd. I go to a lot of comic/anime conventions and don’t mind the crowds. I usually go in expecting that there will be a lot of people. Plus, I choose to go to those places, so I tolerate it to enjoy the experience. If there‘s somewhere I have to go to, like the grocery store or a mall, I don’t feel as comfortable with it.

 

[Seladon]

Used to be that the old spicy flight response would kick in, every time without fail—heart spiking, tensing, teeth gritting and grinding, tears springing to my eyes and head on a swivel. White noise in my head. Couldn’t relax even in safe environments, except in deserted areas with safe known companions. For context, I’ve had hyperacusis and light sensitivity since I was a baby, so noisy gatherings of people in almost any setting is a bit of a nightmare for me to navigate comfortably.

However (and this isn’t an ad, swear, I just love sharing the news with fellow sensitive people) since using Calmer silicon earbuds in public, I’ve genuinely noticed a significant reduction in stress response. Dgmw, even with them in I still get a little froggy and animated having to move through or into a crowd, but it’s nothing like the high anxiety I used to feel. And if pair them with dark sunglasses to block the infernal lights of outside? I’m dangerously close to..chill.

Wild how a little simple low-tech solution has made such a difference. I wind down at night and sleep with a different pair in, as well, and it’s helped that as well (pity my doomscrolling and revenge procrastination habits offset the benefit) My big panics now are when I lose them—perhaps it’s the placebo effect, perhaps not, but I feel like it’s hard to sleep without them, now.

Anyway, just thought I’d let the board know, in case anyone else struggles similarly and is looking for a solution.

 

[HorseloverFat]

It's so interesting to read how differently all of you experience crowds.

I am actually very fond of the feeling of being "lost in a crowd". If I'm confident that I will not have to speak to or interact with anyone, I love to go to a crowded place with my headphones on and just feel the presence of people around me, as it scratches that "social itch". I like festivals and markets etc for this reason.

However if there's the expectation that I will have to interact with people, like an unstructured social situation, I feel like I can't breathe in all the way and my body will be fully braced as if expecting an impact at any moment. Even if nothing negative happens it's so exhausting to be in this state that I can't stay for long, I have a very short social battery, and the longer I stay the more risk there is that some tiny thing will set off a meltdown and I'll embarrass myself or have to sneakily escape without having the decency to say goodbye to anyone.

 

[Misty Avich]

I can feel very irritable in crowded places and do things on impulse such as walk aggressively fast as I weave in and out of all the people as if to show how irritated I'm feeling. It's not aggression as such, just impatience, but impatience can cause feelings of aggression I guess.
I also feel agitated or flustered when people (strangers) stand too close to me. I have to move away.
But children make me feel anxious the most and for some reason they make a crowd of 1,000 people altogether feel like 10,000 people. I think it's their energy, noise, unpredictability and lack of motor skills. Somehow children are able to filter adults out (except for caregivers and other familiar adults) and a crowded supermarket can seem like a quiet, empty place to them. I believe I was the same when I was a child, although I was taught not to run around or shriek or use everything as a plaything, unless I was in a child's playground of course. But if my parents could control an Aspie child with ADHD well enough then I believe almost all parents can control their neurotypical children (children in general).

 

[RemyZee]

I have a little different take on this, because I actually do like crowds more than I like one on one--because in a crowd you're kind of anonymous and free to people watch without the pressure of having to talk or perform and not the stress of constant being put on the spot.. When it's just a couple of people the demand is so high to keep the conversion flowing it makes me run for the door literally, but I do great alone in a very crowded restaurant or by myself at a crowded market
..as long as no one talks to me! Make me have a conversation with you and I'm out of there. But I do get very disoriented in crowds, tend to lose important things, get lost, etc