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I Think It's a Horrible Time to be a Young Autistic (Bed Thoughts)

fattymeatysardine

fattymeatysardine

Active Member
I am 24 years old. Most of my education is from private schools that are targeted towards disabilities, so I have been around many aspies for a lot of my life. I've noticed a problematic pattern with I and many other young aspies that we're too vulnerable to the manipulative nature of online spaces: We're getting too obsessed. Not the kind of obsession where we study hard or create new things, but the "lazy" obsession where we're just interested in consuming. This problem is prevalent in NTs, but the aspies are simply more vulnerable.

All of the online spaces have become too manipulative. Multiplayer games, chatrooms, video sites, etc. now try to suck us dry and try to keep us from leaving. I see the struggle other young aspies have online and a lot of my old friends from school are having trouble distancing from the digital world and living life. I myself struggled with leaving the digital world and it took years of change and fighting bad habits. I truly sympathize with the aspies struggling.

If any parents see this, please monitor screen time for your child. It's so hard for us to leave digital world once we're invested in it.
 
Not only bad for autistic people, or just kids... I think social media is simply kind of toxic in general. I'm sure anyone who remembers me from "back in the day" the last time I was here, remembers that I usually advocate against social media use, unless serious discretion is used.

Of course, there are things that can be good about it, especially for people who may not have a lot of real-life friends, or have loved ones abroad, and socials are the only way to maintain contact. Or if you are someone who runs a small business, or are an independent artist/musician, and you need the publicity. But there are just so, so many downsides. My partner and my friends are all on social media and I get sick to my stomach from seeing how mean the comments often are, on basically any image, video, post, or anything you come across. People really think they can say anything nowadays.
"Mean" doesn't even begin to cover it. Even "shocking" isn't a strong enough word.

I agree that limiting screen time for kids is generally a good idea, especially when they are very young. It's not good to ever be exposed to bullying, shockingly graphic content, or anything of an abusive nature, but especially not at such a young age. Childhood trauma has very serious consequences later in life and is very hard to undo.
There are, of course, lots of ways that the internet is a useful tool for young people, but I think it's definitely gone downhill in recent times.
 
Luca said:
I agree that limiting screen time for kids is generally a good idea, especially when they are very young. It's not good to ever be exposed to bullying, shockingly graphic content, or anything of an abusive nature, but especially not at such a young age. Childhood trauma has very serious consequences later in life and is very hard to undo.
There are, of course, lots of ways that the internet is a useful tool for young people, but I think it's definitely gone downhill in recent times.
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In Australia we recently banned kids under 16 from social media access and I think it'll end up having positive effects on our society - kids not being exposed to things like right wing extremism until they're old enough to have started developing their own ideas.

These bans have been put in place in the name of child safety and that's a very important issue, but I think there'll be other beneficial effects flowing on from it as well.

We don't prosecute kids or parents by the way, we're holding the media companies responsible. We're also not interested in chasing after every single breach but instead track trends and if the media companies age restriction policies are systematically failing then they get fined. The fines are designed to be more than just a slap on the wrist, they are designed to cause serious financial pain, serious enough to affect stock prices. Fines start at $50 million and there's no upper limit.

'Untenable': Roblox on notice after child grooming reports
 
Luca said:
My partner and my friends are all on social media and I get sick to my stomach from seeing how mean the comments often are, on basically any image, video, post, or anything you come across. People really think they can say anything nowadays.
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What kind of sucks to also consider is how many of them are just bots attempting to drag real people down into the mud, and how effective it probably is.

I think that's why I love being outside of those massive channels; staying far away from the propaganda that consumes every other space and dehumanizes us all.
 
Crabcore said:
What kind of sucks to also consider is how many of them are just bots attempting to drag real people down into the mud, and how effective it probably is.

I think that's why I love being outside of those massive channels; staying far away from the propaganda that consumes every other space and dehumanizes us all.
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Yeah, that's a whole other thing... I often can't tell what's a real comment and what's been posted by a bot, especially on YouTube videos. And the things the bots say can be really disgusting.
It's very effective, and quite sad.

I don't watch really massive channels either, I probably can't even name any of the popular YouTubers right now... the last one I remember being relevant among the younger generation was Mr. Beast, and I never cared about him, and have no idea if he's still relevant lol
If I sound like I live under a rock, it's because I do...
 
Crabcore said:
I think that's why I love being outside of those massive channels; staying far away from the propaganda that consumes every other space and dehumanizes us all.
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I have no idea who the "major channels" are, I never followed celebrities and always struggled to remember their names. That's not just me by the way, most Aussies pay little attention to media personalities and we don't worship them like I see happening in some other countries.

Mostly what I watched were people's first visits to Australia, some of them are very interesting. But once again celebrity status tends to turn me off, I look a what other videos are posted on the channel and if they're jetsetting professional content creators then I ignore them, I like seeing the genuine reactions of everyday people who are having some of the best experiences of their lives.

We've deported a few professional content creators, if they come here on a holiday visa and start making content then they're breaking the law, if that's their profession then they need to apply for a working visa and pay taxes the same as anyone else that wants to work here. We now also immediately deport anyone who films themselves interfering with our wildlife, taking babies from their mothers etc is culturally unacceptable. Quite a few Americans are now permanently banned from ever returning Australia for any reason for the rest of their lives.
 
Outdated said:
We've deported a few professional content creators, if they come here on a holiday visa and start making content then they're breaking the law, if that's their profession then they need to apply for a working visa and pay taxes the same as anyone else that wants to work here. We now also immediately deport anyone who films themselves interfering with our wildlife, taking babies from their mothers etc is culturally unacceptable. Quite a few Americans are now permanently banned from ever returning Australia for any reason for the rest of their lives.
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There was a time when personal injury was a real concern, over the perceived injury of the body, one's mind or their emotions. With the Internet in its present state, it would seem that there is little to no control at all over this peril. Where lies and slander are proliferated at such numbers that it's completely out of control, with prosecutors and litigants having to be very select about whom to target for such transgressions.

At least Australia is doing something in this regard.
 
Judge said:
At least Australia is doing something in this regard.
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Only time will tell if we're getting things right or not, but at least we're having a go at it.

I did find it interesting how many other countries took notice of our social media ban for kids and are now working towards doing the same. Major media companies are now seriously worried that in the future they might have to start demonstrating some sort of moral fortitude.
 
I feel living your authentic self is the most important thing. Influencers don't know us or our lifetime goals. Their goals are quite out of the norm of reality, so l could never subscribe to that lifestyle anyway. Plus, throw in that we are fluid and constantly emerging, no one influencer would ever fit our personal journey of being this, or that or NT or ND and all the other subsets. I do click with certain influencers, but l find they aren't the norm, they are outside of normal. That's why l like them. They help me feel normal as in normal for my group of influncers.
 
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I agree with the thread title and its sentiment, entirely.

Social media started out as being relatively benign compared to the alogrithm fuelled, rage-bait nightmare that it has become in recent years, serving those who make money from its existence more so than the general userbase.

Also, as people have alluded to in this thread, there is plenty of slander, libel and such going on, on social media and it goes unchecked and often without any repercussions for the offenders. It is hard to push back against people who spread lies if they live in another country for example.

There are cases of young folk who have ended their own lives because of being the victims of slander or cyberbullying and such.

It sort of makes you wish for a time before social media existed, at least, before the big corporations with the biggest social media platforms existed.
 
Outdated said:
Only time will tell if we're getting things right or not, but at least we're having a go at it.

I did find it interesting how many other countries took notice of our social media ban for kids and are now working towards doing the same. Major media companies are now seriously worried that in the future they might have to start demonstrating some sort of moral fortitude.
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Banning is a desperate solution. Language is just data and web protocols are built for it; social media won't die.
Even though I disagree with a ban, there will inevitably end up being a decently large group of kids who don't care to find an alternative/bypass and they'll probably be more happy. Perhaps this group of kids could be used as useful data to push back against social media.
 
Outdated said:
In Australia we recently banned kids under 16 from social media access and I think it'll end up having positive effects on our society - kids not being exposed to things like right wing extremism until they're old enough to have started developing their own ideas.
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There is also left-wing extremism to consider.
Think in terms of Bondi.
 
Luca said:
Yeah, that's a whole other thing... I often can't tell what's a real comment and what's been posted by a bot, especially on YouTube videos. And the things the bots say can be really disgusting.
It's very effective, and quite sad.
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You can get to the point where you learn to ignore the slop.
I have to a large degree.

AI is making the problem much bigger, btw.
 
Outdated said:
We've deported a few professional content creators, if they come here on a holiday visa and start making content then they're breaking the law, if that's their profession then they need to apply for a working visa and pay taxes the same as anyone else that wants to work here. We now also immediately deport anyone who films themselves interfering with our wildlife, taking babies from their mothers etc is culturally unacceptable. Quite a few Americans are now permanently banned from ever returning Australia for any reason for the rest of their lives.
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That woman was a shocker, and she scurried out of the country before she was kicked out. lol
 
Luca said:
I think social media is simply kind of toxic in general
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Absolutely and without question. It atomizes relationships, creates echo chambers and hides authenticity. I remember dating before cell phones, before the internet when actual communication took place and meeting each other was prioritized.
 
Gerald Wilgus said:
creates echo chambers and hides authenticity.
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Tell me about it.

Recently, I tried to connect with YouTube audiences, only to find I was shadow-banned by the creator because I was being politically even-handed.
I only tried a couple of times, and both times I was shadow-banned, so stuff the lot of them. 🐥
 
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