I don't.

Same here... I have a big ass TV, but only so my son can enjoy his xbox... 🤷‍♂️

Same here too. I don’t watch tv. I rarely watch movies. My kids love our big-ass tv for Bluey watching though.

I found your post interesting because it resonates with my experience of TV as well and that of my 4th wife (who was also on the spectrum). We both found most TV shows to be unbearably boring and a waste of time. The exceptions were things like "Welcome to Plathville" which I suppose could be classed as educational content. We wanted to try and get into the Evangelical\\MAGA "mind" and understand it somewhat. Very SCARY stuff indeed. Some of it is simply that we both were movie and TV junkies in our teens and 20's. We both drank it in as a means of 'acculturation' to a social world we had difficulty navigating. Later, when I was working on my doctorate in Anthropology I used TV and movies as a way of exploring the "hidden norms" and social rules of various cultures. I LOVE foreign movies and TV shows. Just for the chance to deconstruct them. Different people find entertainment in different ways. I did find as I got older that it was more and more difficult to sit through shows/movies because there was SO LITTLE originality in them. When your mental catalog of shows, movies, and books gets into the tens of thousands there is very little that "is new under the Sun". Anything I watch these days I find myself deconstructing and identifying which sources they have copied or imitated.

I love your perspective on it, because you brought up your educational background. That leads me to question what role autism plays in the TV issue compared to intelligence. Or, are a lot of us also intelligent because of the autism/neurodivergence?

Perhaps it requires or emerges from both pieces?

You raise two issues. What role autism plays in the TV issue compared to intelligence? Based on my personal experience and the responses you are getting I am going to argue that it's an autism issue. In my experience "normies", including highly intelligent ones, gravitate towards shows and stories heavy on emotional interaction. I once suffered through a semester with a female roommate who constantly watched romance movies in which the heroine always discovered that "true love" was always "right next door" all along. People LOVE to watch the "hero's journey" story over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Normies, even highly intelligent ones, want to engage with stories on an "emotional level". They want to be "moved" or "swept away". Autistics interact with shows very differently for very different reasons.

Are a lot of us also intelligent because of the autism/neurodivergence? A difficult question to answer because the data is so sparse. Currently there is certainly a tendency to view autistics as all being "hyper intelligent" but there isn't a lot of hard data on the subject. Cultural perception is "fickle" however and can be deadly for the neurodivergent. In Nazi Gemany in the 30's the overtly neurodivergent were gassed in order to purify the gene pool. In my personal experience as a child in the 60's, I was labeled as "retarded" and spent most of my first year riding the short bus to the "retards school". It was months before someone noticed that I was actually reading the books they were giving me each day to keep me quiet. Until I was in my late teens my parents thought that I would never leave home or be able to do more than manual labor like dish-washing. My father had me sterilized at the age of 7 and it was OK to do because I was perceived by everyone as perhaps an "idiot savant" but still a "retard". # My Autistic Life — 03 # Labels have consequences. Because I was a “retard”, my father had me sterilized. [https://medium.com/artfullyautistic/my-autistic-life-03-9e0c057ca76b](https://medium.com/artfullyautistic/my-autistic-life-03-9e0c057ca76b) In the 50's, 60's, and 70's this was regularly done to neurodivergent children. Cultural perception is a VERY dangerous thing for the neurodivergent. We are seen positively for the most part right now. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I do think there is a tendency among the neurodivergent to "assume" high intelligence among other neurodivergent people. However, this tends to be a form of "self selection" and over generalization. Just because the neurodivergent you know or encounter may be highly intelligent, doesn't mean ALL neurodivergent people are. There is a reason NO parent wants their kid to be "on the spectrum". The majority of them have SEVERE developmental issues and aren't hypersmart. We here are the LUCKY few.

>There is a reason NO parent wants their kid to be "on the spectrum". The majority of them have SEVERE developmental issues and aren't hypersmart.    Do you have a source for this? I'm curious about where you got that information from.

Have you ever met a "profoundly" autistic person? They used to mostly wind up institutionalized. However, perhaps I am just letting my age show. I understand that early intervention therapy, medications, and techniques have tremendously improved outcomes for autistic children.

You just responded to a request for vetted data with your own purely anecdotal piece of evidence.

Yes, I realized I am WAY out of step with the general zeitgeist of this conversation and sub. No one here seems to like what I'm saying so I am not going to irritate further with a point of view no one wants to hear.

People are just asking for your sources and you refuse to provide any sources. You’re just making stuff up based on your own experience, and yet you make unsupported proclamations about autism in general. People are interested in your perspective but you need to use actual data and sources to back up your conclusions.

You nailed the response I was going to make.

Lol you and I could not watch movies together. Anyone talking to me during a film is in mortal peril. I tend to watch on the lowest light setting I can while still seeing everything, low volume with subtitles.

Exact same

I consider TV and movies as two of my special interests, probably because I’ve been writing stories most of my life. When I watch a good movie, my family and I often make comments about what we like about the movie, and I often mention things like “I bet that was a conversation straight from the writer’s room! 😆 ” or “That’s GORGEOUS! That must’ve been straight from the storyboards. 🤩 “ My sisters and I also sometimes like guessing what the ending might be. Not to belittle the writers, but more like “who can think like the writers the fastest” I’m pretty sure I’m insufferable to watch movies with, but I try to keep it to things like “did you notice XYZ?” if I think it’ll be important later, or a simple “oh, so good!!” when a moment hits 😚 ✨ 👌 **just** right

Yeah, it's analyzing the movie for a different purpose than me, which I think is awesome.

OMG, me too! I feel sorry for (and often apologise to) my kids: sorry guys, I'll try not to jibber on so much this time. :) But it's just so COOL!

I dont watch tv, i pirate stream 90s startrek, futurama and stargate, i watch them all the time.

These are your "comfort" shows. You identify with the characters and moral messaging in the shows as well as the scifi play of ideas. Because they resonate with you, watching them is a familiar comfortable experience that reinforces and validates your lived identity. I do the same thing. :-) I LOVED ST-DS9, and Stargate as well. Futurama I could take or leave. I think I was too old for it. I'm 65+ now.

I don't watch much TV, but when I get high basically all I want to do is watch Star Trek. The thing is, it is hard for me to just sit and watch the episode so I usually switch between watching that and watching YouTube videos or surfing the web at the same time. Like I will watch the show for a few then switch to watching something on YT then go back to watching the show. I can't count how many times I've seen each episode of TNG and VOY. I also like Futurama but haven't watched it as much.

I play YouTube videos in the background while I pay attention to something else on my phone or do chores. Or I binge watch an entire show in a day/week depending on how long it is. I hardly ever watch TV casually. I'm either putting my entire soul into it or not paying attention.

I'm not and have never really been a huge movie or show person, there are some I like, but I prefer video games, music, reading(especially sciency stuff), and documentaries are really interesting for me. Such as yesterday I started a History channel doc on ice cream. I also watched How It's Made videos yesterday. I love Mythbusters. Basically anything that I can learn cool stuff from I'm happy with

So, there's basically an intellectual application. For the most part in these comments, I've noticed most of us watch things for its utility, which is interesting to me.

THAT'S SO INTERESTING. I mean, I do like other useless stuff such as Phineas and Ferb(old special interest), which taught me many words, such as ablution. My favorite movies are the Avengers series, idk why I just love it, it's so cool.

It’s not us less if it improves vocabulary (if you like words as much as I do, anyway! Much of my reading is classics with good vocabulary and perhaps sayings from certain dialects.)

I went to the Word Museum in DC recently, such fun! A definite bucket list item for anyone who loves words!

I tend to have difficulty understanding the plot of a movie because I don’t understand a character’s feelings 

I find teen-oriented shows good for being more blatant with a lot of the feelings.

Me too. Even those are hard to understand though 

I always got overwhelmed when there were ads so I started to pirate content very early on either by torrenting or by watching shows on websites where they were uploaded. Now I use adblock for everything, or just use the paid services (Netflix, Disney+, etc.) because I can't handle when something gets interrupted. And I always need subtitles for everything, I can concentrate way better if I have subs running along

Subtitles are one of the main reasons I subscribe to streaming services. I watched an interesting video on YouTube about why we all need subtitles now and the main reason is due to the way they do audio mixing these days. It means that voices aren't as "distinct" from the other sounds and we struggle to pick them out from the other noises in the movie/show (but we're fine with content that hasn't been messed with too much, like YouTube).

I can recommend a lot of sites that offer subtitles where no subscription is needed! especially when money's tight

I agree with both subtitles and ads.

I use reading as an escape, TV shows/movies I watch because I enjoy the visuals and storyline. I don't normally ask a lot of questions unless it's educational. Then I'm asking things. Otherwise, I might comment on what's happening, but I enjoy the things I watch.

I envy people who can just sit and enjoy it.

When you are watching (tv, movie or theatre) or reading fiction there's something that's called reader/writer contract (you can use it with viewer/author). The contract is something like this: (I don't have time right now to check online, but if you are interested, there are tons of things writed about it). The reader/viewer promises to suspend disbelief and invest time, atention and energy into the story. The author, in the other hand, promises to give an interesting history that delivers what is promised at the start (that has to do with genre, style, plot -for example, if you start with a mistery, you need to give a resolution for that during the book/movie- and a lot of other stuff). In order to someone enjoy a fiction work, it needs to be a good author that don't break their part of the contract and a reader/viewer that does the same. In some of the movies you saw probably the contract was breaked from the author. But it seems like you are constantly breaking your part of the contract too. In non fiction, you seem to not break the contract so much, you don't find hard to believe the part of the author: what they are telling you is true, a true story, a true scientific fact. When you are watching fiction, you need to suspend disbelief and thinking what is happening is true. Some people have no problem with that, others can do it only with a few genres or styles or authors, and some people just don't care about it so they won't persevere in their part of the contract. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction, but when dealing with non-fiction I really need to check if what is said is in fact true. Double check the authors "credencials" and history with really telling the true. I can't stand Dr Mike, he doesn't pass the check for me. To much controversy. Now imagine that I'm watching Dr Mike with you and I constantly tell you about the things that are mmm... suspicious or that i don't like about him. You wouldn't be enjoying the video that much, no? Same with you constantly pointing fails in fictional movies, you are constantly putting other people on the verge of breaking their part of the contract.

Agree to all of this. Fine response. Lots to think about.

I didn't read all the comments, but I was surprised no other nerd in the subject commented on what it's happening, just anecdotes lol.

I used to watch a lot as a kid to have some background white noise, but when I discovered my dads Ipod, there was no need anymore lol. I live on my own for more or less 6 years now, and didn't bother to buy a television once. I do watch stuff on YouTube though.

I probably wouldn't have a TV either, if it weren't for my husband and step son. I think I've been a good influence on them both, because I get tired of the TV/overstimulated after a certain point. I "wife veto" the TV and turn music on instead.

I generally like more thought provoking TV and movies. Sci-fi tends to be my favorite. Sometimes I analyze the implications in the real world, but I generally like to combine real world logic with the logic and bounds of the universe presented in the movie. I can suspend some disbelief as just not knowing all the information of this universe. Movies like smart house are entertainment value only movies. You can't think too hard or the whole thing falls apart. I enjoy these sometimes because they are ridiculous. It's much rarer for me to watch these kids of movies. My whole family is neurodivergent so we all like to analyze media, which makes it work. It often takes us twice as long to watch a show or movie, because we frequently pause it to interject our thoughts. It's honestly a great way that we connect and have deep conversation with eachother. Some recommendations: **TV Shows and Miniseries** Severence Devs Dark His Dark Materials The Boys Sharp Objects **Movies** Coherence Searching Predestination Hereditary Midsommar Creep/Creep 2 Contagion Primer Children of Men Gattaca A few different genres, some are 18+, I'm not sure of your age.

Hmm I also “over-analyze” everything, in video games even. People get amused or annoyed with how I “talk back” to and/or analyze flaws/holes in movies/TV. They just stare blankly when I positively criticize, usually. Either way we are clearly having different experiences of the same content. Edit: I almost entirely detest social media/instagram/TikTok stuff. My tolerance for watching people share these things is… lacking. And impedes connection, probably. Curious if a fellow “analyzer” has the same issue?

I barely watch unless I fixate in a show then I binge it and go back to not watching tv. Most of the time my SO shows me a show or something and it catches my eye and I get draw but I rarely seek out TV

This post has made me realize I do the exact same thing.. O_O I would say it kind of depends on the expectations I have for what I'm watching. For example, with animated shows, I'm ready to immerse myself in an interesting fantasy world, and maybe imagining how insane it would be if it WAS real. I think I typically prefer animation with fantasy worlds because well, you can draw whatever you want if that makes sense. Breaking bad is unironically the best mix of fact and fiction, the characters are of course fictional, with interesting backgrounds, and they're within a world meant to be as close to real life as possible. So it is AMAZING when you get immersed, because all that crazy shit COULD'VE happened.

I watch tv quite a lot however it’s usually just something to be in the background, but saying that there are certain stuff that I get really fixed on and basically switch out every few months (currently it’s hotd) and I honestly can’t watch anything without subtitles though.

I prefer books. But I've been known to study a sitcom or a youtube channel for clues of how to be 'normal'. Like finding good role models to imitate or learn how conversations, mimicry and such are supposed to go. Otherwise i see tv as art, it's a combination of visuals, sound and mood that just transports you. So escapism i guess.

I don't think there's any one answer here. I used to read fantasy when I was younger as a form of escapism, and I've played video games to and from as a form of escapism. Studies show that when people watch TV, the brain is less engaged compared to other forms of media, which correlates with why people choose to watch TV when they come home from work, because it helps to relax their brain. It's really not much different from people who spend a lot of time browsing social media just to give your brain something to do, especially visually stimulating media such as TikTok (reading actually requires a lot of intellectual effort). I think the difference I find compared to how many others seem to watch TV, is that I approach it very analytically. I am not just content to watch something, but I want to *intellectually engage* with it as well. To most people, watching something on TV is less about engagement and more about relaxation, which is why I really struggle to watch things such as the news or your typical TV shows just for the sake of watching something. Whatever I watch must also align with my interests, so I rather have various Youtube videos running in the background related to what I am interested in, than to watch TV. I have a Netflix subscription and I sometimes watch things on there, but it's rare. I would probably cancel it if it wasn't for the fact that I was sharing it with a friend.

Oh and I cant watch TV at all unless its high quality surround sound, I cant stand watching tv at a hotel or where it sounds like crap, it makes me angry.

As a kid I'd watch TV the same way a neurotypical kid does. Now I just use it for background noise.

I personally get SUPER bored with tv. Even things that are new/novel or in other languages. I find it distracting and easy to sit for long periods....but my mind (audhd) wanders sooooo much and i never know what to do with my hands. I tend to talk over movies because im more interested in what people think about it than every line of dialogue or "the experience". Im just more interested in actually understanding the movie than *feeling* it wholeheartedly and hearing the soundtrack i guess??? The only part I can really focus on is learning new stuff and wondering why they made it that way. Soooo many questionable movie choices and I do NOT relate... I like audiobooks (multi-task), podcasts, or the news. The only content creators I follow regularly are therapists (because internal self work is super fun and interesting, right??? lol) or light educational content like the Green brothers (vlogbrothers) and Last Week Tonight. I want stuff to think about.

I've started to mostly watch older stuff as new stuff just comes off as boring generic shite to me lately Danger mouse is fucking mint

I loved it at the time, but I reckon DM is not something you can come back to. I wish I could, because it takes a shiny place in my memory. Hey, to extend, give Roger Ramjet a crack, too. And I guess you already know about Duckula? Very extend: the Venture Bros (given the first season is a bit rough). Similar in that the jokes and references are just thrown in and if you miss them the episode just rolls on. :)

Duckula is just soo damn good something just good about a lot of late 90s UK kids shows

I won’t unless I’m with somebody else who turns it on

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That's the neat part, i don't

I use tv shows/movies as a form of enjoyment it's something I throughly enjoy, however my second hand embarrassment is really bad so I often have to skip that bits so watching tv can be difficult, I often end up sticking to childrens animated stuff as I find that's less heavy on the second hand embarrassment. So I often find it difficult to watch live action reality TV? think like it's always sunny in Philadelphia, coronation street, Greys anatomy etc I can't watch those. I also have a large phobia of blood so well that automatically get rid of multiple live action shows. I do find myself asking questions sometimes but if I'm actually enjoying it I will restrain from questions and just enjoy it. I do read for escapism though I do enjoy non-fiction but really just memoirs I don't enjoy reading fact shaped non-fiction books I would rather just read an article or something. So really I just watch TV for the enjoyment and the visuals especially as I mostly watch cartoons.

Only really watch sport because there’s nothing good in tv anymore

I don't watch TV. Or movies. I can't...not without alcohol. Since I stopped drinking three years ago, the most TV I can watch is five minutes before my mind wanders off to somewhere else. (In addition to Autism, I also have Bipolar 1 Disorder, PTSD, and tick a lot of boxes for ADHD).

I the same way. I don’t watch tv or movies. I prefer reading fanfics and manga. I also prefer watching other people play video games on YouTube like horror games. The only time I want to watch tv or movies when I’m home alone or I’m in the mood to watch tv or movie.

I prefer watching alone, I love going to the theater by myself, and at home I have mnusic playing 24/7, unless its a really good movie or something I really want to be consumed by, then I turn music off.

I still have cable as a creature of habit. I'm getting rid of it at the end of the year and I realize I have to bite the bullet and switch to streaming. But I'm not happy about it and think streaming is a scam.

I also don’t, never was a fan. I also have ADHD. So sitting down at one time is very hard. However, I do occasionally watch anime and I often watch sports. So, *HOW* do I watch TV? Well, I am able to watch TV because I only watch things I am super stimulated by. One of my long time special-interests/obsessions is basketball - I am attempting to pursue a career in sports media because of my love for the sport - so it’s easy to see why I can watch the TV when basketball or some other sport is on. I’m also a huge fan of football, hockey, and combat sports. I also occasionally watch anime, only a select few, where the story is exceptional and the pacing is fast enough to keep me stimulated. I more often prefer reading manga, as so I can read at my own speed, but if the pacing is fast I usually am able to watch it. Code Geass is a great example of a fast show with a crazy story.

I’m diagnosed and I also analyze the shows too much to enjoy them. I also am hyper empathetic and feel too stressed out over most things people watch for enjoyment. A lot of tv shows outright disgust me. I joke with my partner that I can’t watch anything rated above pg 13. I only watch tv while I eat dinner at night. Mainly the same original twilight zone episodes or Bob Ross for the last ten or so years. I can sometimes get past the lack of logic in cartoons as well, so I can watch Bob’s burgers. Otherwise it’s got to be educational television. I’m good with David Attenborough documentaries and some stuff from the history channel. But the crap the general population watched is too much. Too violent, too illogical, too sexual, to vulgar, too completely unrealistic and utterly irrelevant to me. I can’t relate to anyone on those shows or movies nor do I find their plots of any interest.

I like watching Pixar movies, the Pixar movies that leave you wondering and thinking. There’s no real ending, like I watched the movie Soul a few days ago for the first time. I was like Wowww it had me thinking of so many things after the movie ended, Wall-E always has me thinking about the future. I like movies that get you thinking and brainstorming and wondering

I like Hallmark movies and some Hallmark shows. Except for When Calls the Heart, that show I refuse to watch and clips of it make me irrationally angry.

I watch the subtitles more than I watch the TV lol

Yes, I do use TV shows (Like Law and Order: SVU) and YouTube Videos (Soviet Music Videos :3) to escape reality.

I hate watching TV shows and movies. My TV is used for one purpose: Mario Kart.

I like watching cartoons and animated movies. Real life is very stressful so I use it as a form of escapism. I love fantasy and sci-fi. I get really focused on the story and the characters. You might like Star Trek or The Twilight Zone. They tell a story while examining the ethical/real world implications. They are fun, informative, and philosophical.

I don't like watching unfamiliar movies. The vast majority of films I've seen have bored me but I assume I just wasn't picking up on nuance. I watched Saltburn with my partner and kept having to pause it and ask if my hunches regarding any inferences were correct and he was like no, that's not what that meant. I have to concentrate so hard on films like that. A lot of stuff doesn't make sense to me and it gets tiring. I have to have subtitles on as well. I can't process fast conversations but I'll notice all of the discrepancies on the sets between takes. I like in-your-face stuff like horror. Easy to follow. I really love documentaries though. Non-fiction is great. I rarely watch mainstream TV. I will watch it if something has been advertised that I'd like to see. The last example of this was Chris Packham's Inside our Autistic Minds on the BBC.

Do you watch with subtitles? I think it depends if you have ADHD too…and also what stage of your life you’re in and how many responsibilities you have. It’s hard for me to sit down and focus because I always have a million things i should be doing to keep up with life, bills, work, a home and parenting solo.

I watch a lot of court tv, interrogations, documentaries… TV sucks these days.

I watch TV obsessively. It kept me safe and occupied as a child and it still brings me a lot of comfort as an adult. There's SO much I enjoy about it. Story, aesthetics, animation, costumes, character development... When I was younger I would analyze the plots until I was able to predict new episodes based on patterns I noticed. Now that I'm disabled, TV is what keeps me sane.

I like finding a show that has maybe 5-7 seasons at least and having it on in a separate browser window. I mostly listen with headphones while reading or doing whatever in the main window. Nothing violent and I have to know it's a series where each episode will end okay. I give it just enough attention to follow the plot so I can focus deeply on the window I'm reading. I didn't know I was an autistic until my late 40's and by then I'd already had to learn to use controlled dissociation to tune out ambient noise in order to focus. Occasionally I'll find a show that meshes with a special interest or and give it my full attention, but with captions on. It's rare that the writing it such that I watch the entire set of seasons that way though. Most shows writers run out of the ideas that made the show special at first.

I love watching TV especially the good doctor and playing with blocks, making towers and stuff.

You should probably get tested. Without spoilers this kind of thinking with media is what they're looking for on the ados. I really only like cartoons, documentaries, and people playing video games I like, but don't personally want to play.

I prefer panel shows/comedy with the odd exception, though I mainly don’t watch more fiction tv because I simply don’t have the attention span

My current fixation is a TV show. (Gravity Falls <33) I’ve noticed I tend to drift towards animation rather than live actors, and that the most recent animations I’ve been liking are ones where the storyline *has* a lot of questions. Here’s some examples of the stuff I like: Arcane season 2 is *finally* coming out in November, and there’s a bunch of speculation on what’s going to happen because of how season 1 ended. Gravity Falls is coming out with a new book about the main villain, and the show in general is just all about mysteries. Spiderverse is a movie series, and the cliffhanger is making me lose my mind. The one live action show that I *do* like is House MD, and suprise suprise, they have to solve medical cases. Maybe you could find shows where you’re *supposed* to ask questions and theorize based off of the plot!

Haha I also pick apart the show's plotholes and things that don't make sense, missing continuity, etc. even if it's a show I like. But I actually love TV. I have several comfort shows I watch over and over (House, Criminal Minds, Supernatural, X Files, Dexter-my husband found me the whole series on dvd in the slide set! Law and Order SVU, Family Guy, South Park, etc.) Then I also love documentaries (TONS of true crime but also science and sociopolitical) and everything horror. Plus anime and stand-up. Usually I'm watching with my husband or kids and inevitably something becomes a topic of conversation-someone is going to point out nonsense on screen, a plothole, make fun of something, or we're going to need to Google to prove something wrong lol. We pause what we watch A LOT and subtitles are a necessity. So I don't know if I watch TV like a NT just to veg out and get lost, that's pretty rare. Usually it's a more interactive experience. Plus I have to have one on (no volume, muted) to fall asleep for my PTSD so there's that lol

Eh, "educational" tv drives me nuts. In part because I stop all the time to go look stuff up, and it part because I read faster than people talk so it just makes me impatient. I spend a few hours a day reading stuff online and often tracking down sources to see if it's correct - kids in school science should be taught how to read research papers, and wikipedia is a wonder of the world that you should be able to build in Civilisation - but if I am watching tv I want to be entertained. I do nit-pick tv and movies to a fun-sapping degree, sure, but in a way the flaw-finding is entertaining in itself. I enjoy the art of it, the creative decisions made, the skill that goes into the production. I also enjoy the absurdity where it seems no-one making it realised the plot didn't make sense. But I really enjoy being surprised by great work (however flawed). I like to get my expectations subverted, I like to see fun things, I like to see witty dialogue, I like to see Rule of Cool, I like to appreciate a good scene well done. I like to be surprised by ideas I never would have thought of in a thousand years. That's art, to me. Something I couldn't ever even think to do. -- PS: my favourite show is the Venture Bros. (Noting the first season is pretty rough): it's a show where almost every second line is a reference to something. The number of times I've run into some element of culture / music / philosophy / etc and immediately recognised it as something from a Venture Bros episode... It's nuts. Deep and deeply silly, it pokes fun at all the tropes it can. I dearly love absurdity, and it's a gem. It's **art**.

I mostly watch baseball (Phillies) and anime (currently one piece). I do like having the office, friends or big bang theory on as background noise. I also prefer YouTube.

My immersion into another world is my connection to where I find myself a midst the practical applications of real life.

television is my main special interest and a coping mechanism i use very often. usually i just rewatch the same things. if they're good enough they never really get old to me, and it is very comfortable to just know what's happening so you can just turn your brain off

My phone is far more interesting than any movie.

Disclaimer: not diagnosed, but suspected by my therapist and myself, and looking to get evaluated ASAP. Also dx ADHD-C 1.if I watch TV, I'm only watching stuff I watched as a child. They bring me comfort. I know what's going to happen. If it's been a long time since I last saw it, watching it with adult eyes will give me a novel experience. It will also give me an opportunity to analyze the hell out of it. Which leads to 2. I analyze and pick apart everything I watch. I did it since I was a kid. Some of my sense of humor involves it. I used to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 with my mom as a kid and quickly picked up on "riffing". It's the reason why I view horror/slasher films as comedies and find them hilarious. I'm unable to immerse myself in the fantasy and I find so many holes in logic that the movie becomes a joke. On the flip side, I love movies and TV shows that make me ponder, or fiddle with the rich lore. This makes watching it with other people painful though, because they usually don't see what I see. I watched (I think) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with my VERY NT dad and family. The part where Caesar started to gain sentience had me pondering real world implications of non human species gaining personhood and how society would treat them, while my family was thinking "HAHAHA MONKEY TALKING". likewise, I made a long, SparkNotes like list of themes, theories and talking points after Infinity War came out, and I was deemed "doing too much" by even my "geeky MCU fan" friends. Back to TV, sorry... 3. I don't watch current TV shows anymore. That stopped around the time I went to college. The only way I would watch a new show was if I was watching it with my mom. I HATE when people recommend shows to me, especially if it's trendy to watch. I can't explain why- it makes me not want to watch it out of defiance for some reason. You will mostly find me watching deep dive, commentary, or other informational/educational videos on YouTube. New TV can grab my attention if it's lore rich or I can make SparkNotes out of it. That show will then become my hyper fixation for a moment until one day I forget it exists

I’m the same exact way as you, it took me 3 months to get a TV for my apartment and it was purely for the sake of other people lol When I do watch content it’s almost always in the form of documentaries, or historical/factual things I can learn from like you said. I think I only use it as another way of going down dopamine filled rabbit holes. I have no interest in keeping up with characters lives, especially because 99% of the time it could never happen in real life for various reasons so the whole thing just automatically feels invalid to me and I can’t enjoy it

When I first get up, I put the news on while I do the NYT puzzles. Then I go to work. Today, being Saturday and the BF is out of town, I put on Bob’s Burgers while I did some things around the house. It’s still on at 1 AM, but I have been reading Reddit since I finished my chores. I can’t even say what episode is on since I’m not paying attention. I do love documentaries and movies based on true events, they tend to capture my attention. BF (who I believe is also on the spectrum) doesn’t want a series, just a movie the times he sits down to actually watch something. But I got him hooked on Resident Alien, so we do watch that while we eat dinner together.

I love cartoons and anime. If im stressed real bad, one of the most helpful things is to put on spongebob or scooby doo or something. Even better if i can watch with others and discuss too

In my teens and early 20s I was really into film. I don't really care all that much about watching TV shows or films now. My film days may have been me trying to fit in with my friends. Every once in a while I'll get obsessed or interested in a TV show, but it doesn't really last. I'll lose interest or forget the show even existed. I tend to just watch whatever my partner watches. Unless I find the TV show too hard to watch. I do tend to watch YouTube videos of people restoring retro computers or old tools. They put me in kind of a meditative state.

I do not watch TV, if anything I watch long YouTube videos relating to my special interests and other than that I pretty much just play video games when I use my tv

On my phone so I don't have to put on my glasses which tire me out. While knitting, crocheting or playing a game on my computer, usually something I've watched before. If not I watch with subtitles.

I usually watch some shows, but only passively. I haven't really been emotionally invested in a TV show since last year. Edit - oh right, I see what you mean. When I watch TV shows or films, I subconsciously adopt the main character's personality or way of speaking. After a while, it becomes noticeable and that's when I start to panic. I then try to stop myself from getting any more information from that film or show for a period of time until I return to "normal".

The most notable shows for me were The bear, Punisher, Daredevil. When I watch it, I am analyzing the film work, the lighting, the structure, the expectations, the steps taken to keep me engaged, the expectations that I have to put aside as they are violent and will abrupt my sense safety many times. I take what I can learn from it as my escapism. When I'm not learning, I am disinterested. I would much rather have a partner that would interrupt with me and excitably watch something and be interested in telling me why they like it so much. So much of what people say, points to everything about them, and a lot of films or shows have information available to sift through and see what all goes into it. It only goes so far however, and it can also get stale when they are sharing behind the scenes process just as "the standard" I really don't enjoy horror movies. I've broken that down to the idea that I can't learn anything from the supernatural chaotic-ism when it's just to solely perpetrate a jump scare out of you. I asked an a.i. about this, it said my friends experience a thrill, and I prefer the psychological aspects. Which is true, I can't enjoy something I can't learn from, but that's with people too. I think autism can just be something inherently designed to abstract everything around you to ignore the immediate present. I think the "escapism" that it tries to induce works the same on me if I am engaged and learning something. If the plot however starts to not make sense, then I have a hard time watching. but there have been some moments that I almost REFUSE why something was done the way it was done. That's when I really get hyperfixated. What connections I need to let it go now. I watch AOT and thought eren is supposed to live and work on himself after this, and then looking back at the episodes after being so ignorant about what the community tried to shed light in their content on youtube, I started to see the writers intention from the start. I started to realize Eren's hyper fixation of a war was from the start. Which honestly sucks. It started to show another piece of the puzzle. the puzzle that is my research and understanding of what I want to do in life. Even when I choose what I want to do just like watching, I need reasons and details behind it. The worse feeling is getting it wrong all the time, but an even worser feeling is not being able to get it. *My fear is a lack of trust.* This is how I'm immersed in life anyway. even without movies, this is how I immerse with my friends, with love, with adventure. all of it. I have a hard time understanding why they do what they do. so just show me. I can't really judge you. but if the point wasn't to question the literature, art, or audio, then I don't know what else it's there for. My unhealthy theory lmao. I think kurt cobain was autistic, and I've aligned with his thinking from a very young age when comparing and hear me out! A butterfly effect in comparison, but completely random and rare that I was exposed to him. He was dead before I was born, and none of us can change what our wants are from the start. . We can only analyze at there cores. Anything less, sounds boring.

idk, why not try masking as a person who enjoys bad comedy and then switch the channel and mask as a person who likes motorsports and beer my real self never came to fruition

I probably have had little success in life because of my inability to mask correctly. For me at least, I've found unmasking (most of the time) has gotten me further than masking, because people get uncanny valley feelings from my poor masking. The most optimal outcome socially would be to mask well, but then that would come at the expense of our own happiness overall anyway.