I feel it's a bit of tie-in on a thread I started earlier, where I stated that there's too much obligations to be part of society.
This one.
This thread, in a way, is one of the examples of it I think.
I think it's at least quite hard to disconnect yourself entirely and not feel more handicapped over it. A lot of stuff is geared towards the internet (and years ago calling some place). How many commercials on tv do you see that do not advertise a website?
I think the best thing about the internet and how we use it is because it's quite anonymous towards most services and users (in general I'd say you still have to have some skills to search for IP adresses, location, identity and all) and as such an email can get out even if it's written weird, bad or quirky. People will usually respond to it, and you're not exposed to a weird look or laugh at once. It takes away some awkwardness of social interaction. Also; and this is something that's, at least for me personal, a case; I sometimes have a hard time getting my point across when talking, but I can make out a good order and good arguments when I'm writing. Thus my emails are way clearer than my phonecalls or face to face conversations, especially in formal cases like a job center, social services and what have you. I can talk, and usually I can talk quite good, but it takes a lot of patience for listeners because a lot of my talking goes of in weird orders, thus it sounds as if I'm rambling non-sensical stuff. That's probably how my ADHD contributes to my thinking process, while on paper (or screen) I can organize it a bit more, without making people think I'm a raving madman or "slow" because I need to take my time in sorting out the words in conversation.
But the question; did aspies have it easier 50 years ago? I think there's more to it than just "well, we now have the internet". The way of diagnosis was different, and even... and that's what I was talking about with my parents. Now people think I'm weird and I should see a therapist because I'm a difficult person, 40 years ago, having and holding a job was a different deal. There were not extensive screening procedures, it just was "be on time, do your job". Now you're pretty much being screened against a personality type grid (might be an exageration; but it's more than... come in tomorrow; there is a lot of screening going on now). Diagnosis probably was different as well. But so were regulations to get admitted to a psychiatric ward.
So back to my thread a bit and referencing this thread; is there too much strain upon us now? Even from a population standpoint, if you can't stand crowds, you're more and more facing a problem, espcially since everywhere you go it's crowded, and the population in general is still growing. No, that's not a change of the past 50 years, more so, 100 years... but those were times where people weren't even diagnosed with autism that much.
Also; 50 years ago, what did people do to enjoy themselves? And how much impulses did society give them to "get out there". While I believe there were stereotypes on how to behave as a person, now it's a caricature of itself due to commercials and reality tv. And with that comes the question; were people in general more "toned down" 50 years ago so the differences between social inept people weren't that visible?
Turn your phone off dolby...problem solved
And if we want to be alone again all we have to do is turn everything off
That works... iffffff... there's not one service or obligation you might have. I recall a friend of mine getting into trouble for not having his phone on 24/7 just in case his boss needed him... and his boss used to call him quite a lot after shifts for work related stuff. So he even got in trouble for wanting to disconnect.
It enables someone who finds real life hard to effectively do most things other people do, if you can't handle going to a supermarket you can shop online, can't face uni/college? online course. A job in a workplace may be too much for someone(sensory or social reasons) but there are lots of things you can do from home to make money.
Exactly this is what I was doing last year, and when I told my therapist about it (and that was pre-diagnosis; and even before he even thought about me having aspergers) he almost diagnosed me with a internet addiction because I did a lot of stuff online, ranging from shopping to socializing and getting my fix in regards to movies, books and music.
I ended up in an argument with him telling him he's an old fart (he was in his 50's already; no offense to older members, but he just seemed really conservative and it matched his age quit a bit) and that in this day and age people use the internet for more than just email.
Also, I can see how working from home, instead of an office is one of the ways that actually would work for me.
The internet also enables someone with poor social skills to have somewhat of a social life even if it's just online. I have 0 friends but if I want to chat about anything or just want to read what someone's up to I can log on to a forum and not feel so lonely and isolated. How many people(not just aspie's) would still be single if it weren't for the net, I wouldn't have met my husband (and most of my boyfriends) if it were not for the net.
That's how I met a lot of people as well. I didn't really consider being on the spectrum for a while.. until about 2 years ago. But before that, I just went into chatrooms, talked to people a bit, sometimes ended up having them on IM and eventually meet someone here or there. To me it felt like it was "normal" to meet people online like that. I never really had the urge to go out and talk to people that much. I should add, that because about 10 years ago I was vocalist for a local band people would come over and talk to me, so I didn't really have to initiate contact a lot. But still in general, I never wanted to just go out at a bar and talk to people for social reasons and making new friends.
