Sympathy or Empathy For Inanimate Objects???

[Hylian]

Animals and trees I personify a lot, and I used to do that to items when I was a kid. I've also noticed that I extensively personify NPCs in games for some reason, even though they're just programmed pixels on a screen. It's hard to restart towns in Animal Crossing because of this. lol

 

[Aspychata]

Plushies- l have been guilty of assigning attributes to them. Right now l have a guard dog. He protects my apartment and gives free cuddles. He doesn't argue with me. He doesn't call me names. He never diss (s) my choices in bathing suits or my eating habits. He is potty trained and never barks. l have no idea what to name him.

 

[onlything]

Guilty as charged, I did it before. I would do it with my graphic design laptop. Not the best kind but it helped me go through university and some rough patches so when it started to break down and I had to get a new one - well, it felt off and I didn't want it to think that I'm abandoning it despite replacing it with a newer model. It's an oldie now but I made sure it has a nice home still and exchanged parts etc. Maybe it childish but at times objects can seem closer to me than people. They don't judge, they have no expectations, they are rarely unpredictable and do what they were created to do. They will never hurt or ridicule you, never abandon you. People on the other hand, well, you know yourself.

Objects are rarely dangerous on their own, so I suppose they are simply safer to form attachment to... And far too often they are also simply more dependable than fickle humans.

 

[Soleil]

Animals and trees I personify a lot, and I used to do that to items when I was a kid. I've also noticed that I extensively personify NPCs in games for some reason, even though they're just programmed pixels on a screen. It's hard to restart towns in Animal Crossing because of this. lol

I was thinking of physical objects, but I think this is pretty much the same idea, and I do it too. I've never played AC, but there's no way I'd be able to start over either.

But some games, like Final Fantasy Tactics, where I start off with a ragtag bunch of low-level misfits and raise them into a squad of elite warriors... I honestly care for them.

 

[ASD_Geek]

Yes, this is me! Ever since I can remember, I would ascribe feelings or felt like objects had feelings and would feel bad for not picking a certain item or for abandoning one if I were to throw it out.

 

[UberScout]

I do the same thing with my Tamagotchi's, Nebby, and Mabel. Nebby's kinda shy, and Mabel kinda just keeps to herself.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

When I play Sim City, I always put the houses near the waterfront, because I know how happy the people would be to live near the ocean, and the factories, I put as far away on a corner of the map, because I can almost taste the chemical exhaust, and I'd hate the people in my little city to breathe that.

 

[UberScout]

Playing Garry's Mod, having built my own personal post-apocalyptic RP world in gm_big city:

Citizen patrolling: Hey, it's Mr. Freeman!
Me typing in chat in single player: Boi who you talkin bout?
Citizen, suddenly running backwards: Here, lemme get outta your way.
Me equipping shotgun: That's what I thought.

 

[BraidedPony]

I don't think everything has feelings. Just my car and my plants and of course my iPad and crock pot. My recliner too.

 

[Ezra]

I was just thinking having a "lucky charm" or lucky piece of clothing is probably personifying an object. Even giving it powers I suppose.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

When I'm in my daughter's room, I often put her stuffed animal on her bed because I figure it likes it there better. Aren't I silly?

 

[Siam333]

Yes.

All of my plushies have personalities made up by me. I probably have like 300 by now if I'm being honest.

I also used to personify electronics and literally destroy them when I got angry at them. I'm glad I don't do that anymore, because that actually led to some s.h. (don't wanna say the words) to take out my frustrations.

 

[Vie]

I also experience feeling like objects have feelings, especially in a way that endears them to me or makes me want to protect them. It's how I feel about them, rather than a belief; I just care.

Here's a research paper that led me to a search which led me to this thread - "Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don’t read it"
"...In online forums, autistic individuals commonly report experiencing [object personification]. ... An online survey was used to assess tendency for personification in 87 autistic and 263 non-autistic adults. Together, our results indicate that object personification occurs commonly among autistic individuals, and perhaps more often (and later in life) than in the general population."

I was surprised that object personification is actually pretty common in non-autistics too. Then again, perhaps mostly object personifiers responded to the survey.

 

[CrystalWolf]

I personally believe that objects like stuffed animals or toys can actually have souls if you give them enough love and energy, possibly from your own soul, making them a part of you in a sense.

 

[laurie]

(let me know if you experience this)

ever since i was around 11 years old (i cant remember much before that) i've been extremely sympathetic for objects; probably even more than for humans. i think the root of it was the fact that i lacked social skills; i would often talk to myself and i found comfort in toys and objects stemmed from being able to talk without judgement to them. i remember specifically i used to make my mum shut the windows on her car if there were receipts on the dashboard in fear of them flying out onto the road. also speaking of roads i also felt intense sadness if i saw anything (litter, toys, plastic bags even) in the road, in fear of it being run over.

more recently (i’m 18 now) and it still effects me to this day. to the point where i cry over objects getting lost, being put away in the attic for too long, being unused etc. as an anecdote i recently went on holiday and forgot to pack my flip flops when coming back. i felt so intensely sad afterwards that i’d left them behind that i cried. my brother consoled me by reinforcing the obvious fact that they’re inanimate objects and don’t have feelings. but i still felt like i’d let them down.

 

[Suzette]

This is comepletely relatable to me! I am 54 and have learned to detatch more readily but I still feel twinges of regret.
Sometimes I can't let go at all.
In our old car we had a little fuzzy chicken toy that I got from one of those machines at the super market. I dubbed him "Stinky Chicken" and he lived on our dashboard for a couple of years. When we sold the car I made my husband rescue Stinky before the new owner took the car away. I put Stinky in our new car. He is often included in our conversations and my husband wil even say "Be good Stinky" before we get out of the car.
I predict that you will gradually be less interested in your inanimate friends but they will never entirely go away.

Anthropomorphism is another form of empathy. I think that folks like us will make the transition to sharing our world with A.I., robots and androids more readily. We have the ability to pave the way for others who are more reluctant to embrace such a future.

 

[Gerontius]

This is why I restore antiques. The little 1910s phone on the desk was converted into a lamp a long time ago so I made a phone out of it again. Have not hooked it up yet but someday soon. The big typewriter runs but it runs like garbage so I took it apart to bring back to life.

The radio on the side table is going to a repair shop today to have its old vacuum tube innards adjusted so it can play again. It is both AM and shortwave. I bought it for $20 to keep it from being broken up for spare parts. Same with the black 1940s phone. It was a cheap find to "rescue" it and it worked very well for me afterwards.

I collect typewriters a little bit & will cycle through them so I get to use all of them. I hate seeing them sit around & go unused. No they are not sentient but still it looks bad leaving them unused.

 

[DX4STRM9POQN2]

I can't even eat a brownie without feeling bad and wanting to cry!

That's the best part about eating them >: )