Are you actually autistic or are you really an introvert? (5 Ways To Know the Difference)

Absolutely cannot tolerate the way people small talk. I don't get it. It's extremely unpleasant. Small talk is played by unwritten rules that are inconsistent, contradictory, hypocritical, nonsensical, robotic, stupid, often aggressive while pretending not to be, presumptuous beyond measure, and to be avoided whenever possible.

3 points for autism and 2 for introvert

what about you?

I’ve really been asked the question that am I an alien?

This was very validating. I always feel like I have imposter syndrome because I'm really good at masking and people are shocked when I tell them I'm autistic.

My daughter has a lot of autistic traits (sensory aversions, routine, only few friends, hyper interested in a few things), but I am 100% sure she’s not autistic (I have a lot of formal training and direct experience with people with autism, so I’m a bit more qualified than the average person in recognizing autism). The reason I know she isn’t autistic is because her social and emotional skills are so good, which is a huge part of having autism. She’s very shy, so she only has a few friends. However when she DOES want to talk to someone or make a new friend, she has no problem doing so. Social cues and reading body language have always come easy to her, like maintaining eye contact. She gets sarcasm or figures of speech. She doesn’t come home from a hard day at school at stem; just things like that. I’ve also asked her about these things to make sure she’s not just really good at masking.

So those first things I’ve mentioned I just come to the conclusion those are just her little quirks, and just how she was born. She definitely has a more extreme personality!

I always disliked the term "introvert" and prefer "asocial" instead.

There are two unspoken, subconscious assumptions behind the word "introvert", which stem from people's lack of awareness about just how adapted & hard-wired humans (even asocial ones) are for social interaction.

One assumption is that all that matters are humans in this world, so if you don't turn towards other people, you must be turning into yourself. But there is a much bigger world out there beyond humans, and asocial people can have great interest in things outside of themselves.

The other assumption is that turning towards other people automatically means that you'd interact with them. But asocial people, especially autistic ones, can be keenly aware of other people and the need to pay attention to them for their own benefit, but lack the impetus to express whatever they are thinking & feeling about the other person or elicit some response.

I say this as someone who has never been diagnosed with autism and probably never will be (autism diagnosis is only available to children in my country) but fit the bill from everything I read, was told I must be one by the one person I know (from another country) who was diagnosed, and your description of the internal autistic experience for every single one of the five questions resonated strongly with me. At the same time, I am also extremely asocial - so much so that as a kid, out of the blue, my parents & teachers essentially forced me to adopt a classmate as a friend, after such a need didn't even occur to me in a year. But you don't have to want to have friends to experience that you have difficulty to establish personal connections, because establishing connections may be a matter of survival in a society.

Nobody wants to talk to me anymore. They think I’m either a pathological liar sociopath psychopath I give up.

I am so glad that I have clicked on this video because I am always unsure what the heck I am feeling on the inside. These five questions have helped me understand a bit more of myself. I indeed struggle with fitting in other groups despite how much I talk and understand with some other people. There is always this question mark at the back of my mind that states: "Am I human enough to be like anyone else?"
The first question is quite tricky for me because I kinda relate to both. I have enjoyed being alone, but also felt stresses by people I may like (like friends or family) or may dislike (like freaking idiots that sometimes mocked me at schools).
My mother took me to any autism tests, and they all once showed negatively (because I barely talked). They told her to not come anymore, and throughout the years, I remained the same behaviour, and she barely did anything about it anymore.
I definitely have to take a new autism test soon on myself, which means that I have to go through phone calls and to walk by people my body is usually scared of.

1: Why do I like to be alone? Definitely because I find people stressful. Actually, most hobbies I enjoy do necessarily involve other people. But the amount of stress it causes me if another person is present in the flat I live in is insane, I often cry from relief when I finally close the door behind me and am alone again after being with people for a while.

2: Why do I have few friends? This one is actually a mixture of both. On the occasions in my life where I have attempted to make new friends I have struggles massively, yes, but most of the time I'm fine with the few friends I've got. We're very close and while maintaining the relationships does take work, I'm pretty successful at it, precisely because we are already past the dumb small talk phase and can have an actual deeper relationship.

3: Sensory issues: Yeah. I like almost no foods, I've often cried because the vacuum is too loud, etc etc

4: Regulating emotions: I struggle with this one to the point that I'm actually opposed to the entire concept of "regulating emotions". That is not possible, it's like you're asking me to regulate gravity, I can't do it and I hate that people expect me to.

5: Feeling like an Outsider: Oh yeah sure. But I mean who doesn't. I do consider most people a completely different species from myself, but not all. My neurodivergent friends are the same species at me. I'm never gonna be part of The Group at large and at this point I'm fine with that.

"The Autistic Experience" sounds like an AR sim but it's in real life

the world is built for extroverts. avoidance is my best defense.

I'm an introvert and I can't imagine wanting more friends or wanting to be involved in a larger social group D: ... I find it very easy to make friends, and acquaintances often want to take up extra valuable time, invite me places I don't want to go, etc. Going to a work party, for example, is inconceivable to me. Why wouldn't I spend that time by myself, or with close friends I chose to hang out with, instead of a bunch of idiots who have been hoisted on me by circumstance.

TIL I'm just a depressed introvert.

This video does clear up some things for me. In several questions I leaned towards the autistic reasoning, while in the others I was kinda "in the middle".
Now I got another question to be concerned about myself: am I a control freak or just autistic?

Can you make a video on the differences between autistic and high IQ. People with high IQ often have signs of wanting to skip small talk and go deep. They often are hyper sensitive which can look like having an atypical sensory profile / issues regulating their emotions. They can also seem different to their peers, with a different sense of humor (loving equally stupid jokes and highly witty ones). Some of these things can seem like autistic traits. :)

Tbh, this video left me more confused than not. For some of the questions, I was leaning towards autistic, while on the others towards introverted. I did a bunch of online quizzes(yes, I know none of them are an official diagnosis) and all of them told me I have middle to high chance of having autism.

I also watched a couple videos from a diagnosed person, where around half of the stuff I was like "That's literally me" while the other half didn't really click that much.

Idk dude, I'm exhausted, it's 4am, and I'm the "I don't need sleep, I need answers" meme. But I really need to go to sleep.

I always say, I already live now like the apocalypse occured and I only go out when REALLY REALLY necessary. Even then, it's like I'm going out into a field of danger. Grocery shopping is like a military operation- go out, get what I need, have as little contact to humans as possible and get back home fast. Then best not to have to leave the house for at least 24 hours or more.

i relate to a lot fo this, but i still dont know, i could just be weird lol

* Warning long comment *
My instantaneous response for the first question was, 'because it's easier' but I also do genuinely enjoy my solo activities.

For the second question it's a bit more complicated, I used to put a ton of effort into relationships because I genuinely loved all my friends as I thought I connected with them but slowly over time they all cut me out of their lives. Every friend group did this so now I hold everyone at a distance. So I guess it's difficult to connect due to some minor emotional and psychological trauma. But I still care for them all and think about them from time to time. I would just never let them in again. But I do hate small talk I prefer deep philosophical conversations that allow you to really get to the meat and bones of who someone is.

Volume is a big thing with me I cannot stand loudness sometimes it's so overstimulating that I have to retreat for a bit. I also used to have anxiety issues where I could not look at people's faces during the attacks. I would still work still talk to them but could only look at the junction of their clavicles and occasionally I couldn't look higher than their stomachs.

I want to say I'm mostly okay but I'm not sure. I have a tendency to close my eyes and lean heavily against walls or the door and sigh heavily in relief when I get home from social activities, or if I'm at work I'll close my eyes and lean my forehead against the cool wall to relax and calm myself.

I used to always search for a place to belong, then I thought I found it twice, then felt like I didn't, now I've accepted that I don't belong here and never will. And I'm okay with that. I'm just someone who doesn't belong to this world. Am I autistic? Maybe, but that's not the core of who I am, I'm a child of God.

Many people get introvert totally wrong. they think like the stereotype that introverts hates people and social interactions so they prefer to be alone. But even if that may right true for some, in general the difference between am extrovert and and introvert is that the former crave human company because as long as it is positive it charges their battery, whilst for the latter, introverts need alone time to charge their battery as social interactions especially of not a good one drains their social barometer quickly.

I'm not sure if all these questions wouldn't be answered by ADHDers and autistic people similarily.

I might be autistic but I also might be bipolar 😂

Autist, Ambivert, high sensitive and Depression, that's me

Ok I’m introverted, this video was brutal. I rarely leave my house and every time you said “go outside” just felt like a sucker puch 😂

This video (and others about the topic) speaks a lot to me, and I suspect I might have autism, but I don’t know how to bring it up with my parents. I already got (negatively) tested for ADHD because both my mom and my brother have it, and my mom once brought up at a meeting that there was once the thought I might have autism when I was in kindergarten, because i used to not play with other kids unless they came to me, wouldn’t respond to anyone or anything if I was for example caressing a wall with a nice texture, etc. but the psychologist was immediately like „no she doesn’t have autism. That’s not an autism trait.“ (I also wouldn’t speak to strangers, especially adults, AT ALL until I was around 6. That also included our neighbors who I knew, since we live in a really small village. I still don’t speak to strangers unless necessary and I’m a teenager now.)

I have a question to the third point, sensory sensitivity: I don’t have large sensory issues (except for a noise sensitivity for example in gatherings) but instead I find textures very interesting. Instead of despising certain textures, I LOVE going over different surfaces with my hand or fingers. So instead of being really sensitive to textures I am really interested and find it calming (I use it to stim a lot too, I have a ring that can be spun for example). Is that also an indicator of autism?
I don’t have a diagnosis but I strongly suspect I might have it

I meet all the conditions of autism and I never went to check !

I have 3 of 5 for autism, but honestly at 35, it's so difficult to seperate my personality from experience. I have always felt like an outsider, but then I am not sure it's because of my childhood and upbringing, because I was always alone. But I feel like getting older, it gets harder and harder to understand all those other people.

my mom told me stories about me wich i also remember in school my teacher got mad at me that i didnt play with the other kids or tried to get myself a project partner but yeah that bcoz i didnt fit in i been bullied for a couple years primary school middle school high school so yeah hard times.

1. No loud people, no judgement, no interruptions, no distractions - I can dig in my own thoughts in peace.

2. Hard to answer, but I would say that I don't put much effort into relationships at times. I have two friends who drain my social battery really quickly so I rather don't meet up with them. And online friends... oh don't get me started. I'm unable to do many friendships unless I feel a connection but that never happened so far. It went downhill quickly.

3. I would say so

4. YES. No doubt.

5. I do feel like an outsider. I always felt to be different from my family, my friends, my class mates and basically anyone I meet.


If I were autistic, it would make so much more sense why I'm a loner.

I can hear the white noise from your microphone and it really bothers me

I've both introvert and autism sign what am I really????

I don't know. I have all the struggles of autism, but I don't have the deficiancy to understand emotions, or feel what is happening, in fact, I find most people emotionally blunt, and I believe, thats how they get along. I have all the desperations, but I can feel their reasons, I'm not extradited, it is just too much

My son was diagnosed as a child nearly 20 years ago, and I've often wondered if I am somewhere on the spectrum. I've spent my life feeling like the odd one in any group, and i just thought i was kinda weird. I learned to do what i have to do to provide for my family, but the feeling that i don't belong has never gone away. I love people, but i don't know how to really relate to them (with very few exceptions). Where do I go from here?

One reason why i dont like to make friends is because with friends comes favours , and they like to only ask for money borrow

Thank you, I've wondered for half my life whether I'm autistic, now it feels completely clear.

I find comfort in solo time because everyone bothers me, in one way or another. Strangers the most, followed by annoying colleagues, followed by frustrating family. And even those who do not annoy me at all, I will avoid out of stress at having to be "on", as you say. End result = loneliness. Not sure if it's more autism or introversion/lone wolf syndrome.

My answers to 3 and 4 lead me to believe I’m not autistic.. however my answers to those questions at 55 years old is very different than my answers 25 years ago. My answer to every question 25 or so years ago would have led me to believe I was autistic.. the person I am today is drastically different. What does that mean? I would assume you can’t grow out of autism?

thank you so much..this is very helpful

My answers for those question would count me as autistic, but the things is my answers is based on a bad experience with relationship. I have good relation in elemental school, but in middle school my peers changed and I couldn't understand them and they didn't want to accept me or tolerate me as person who I was. I find people stressful and that they would judge me because my peers always make me feel worse. Relationship is for me difficult, because I don't know that should I talk with people to like me, because I'm scared if I say something I don't like and they like they will start not only dislike me, but also start bullying me. I also had problem with emotions, because of my trauma from middle school. Because no one help me with bullies, even teacher I started to losing control over my emotions and sometimes I can't control it in stressful situation, because I felt attacked or weak, because I don't have control over centrain situation. And yeah I sometimes felt like an outsider with whom I meet, because not only they are new for me not peers, because I broke off contact with them, but also I have a fear that I'm to "weird" or to different and they not accept me. So I'm not autistic at this case, but I'm introvert who has trauma with peers and I'm scared to meeting with people, because I'm scared they will not accept me and like me, because I'm to different and because of that different my peers bullied me at first place.

I play multiplayer games with bots or in singleplayer, now i know why

Psychedelics are just an exceptional mental health breakthrough. It's quite fascinating how effective they are against depression and anxiety. Saved my life.

This is actually the best video ln the difference I found. And I am a resesrcher and looked for ages!

Autism spectrum disorder, is also very difficult for kids God bless does kids with ASD DR ABODA HAS REALLY WORKED IN MY FAMILY MY CHILD IS NOW ABLE TO PLAY, TALK ANSWER EVERYTHING YOU AKS AFTER UING DR ABODA REMEDIES IS THE BEST FOR ASD====

I'm autistic, medically diagnosed. stops watching
Just joking, the awareness about autism is never enough. Thank you for supporting us

What I don't understand about these videos is that what's the big deal if we are autistic as adults? It's not as if we are going to improve our way of lifestyle in our 40s, 50s, or 60s

thanky for the video and now i know i am much more complicated

i like quiet places and being disturbed by ppl in the office next to me why i am mostly working from home i am really sensive to noise, smell and sometimes getting dizzy feeling the sparkling on my tongue while driving in public transport etc. but after all i like to talk to people in office or make new friends for a short time and be really thankfull for the time, also i am empathic i would say. i am so confused

I don’t mind loud places with bright lights, not at all. I can close it out and it’s almost…..peaceful. I always get “Go see your doctor” on autism tests but “100%” introvert on Introvert tests. I’m 65 yrs old though! I thought faking your way through life was what everyone did until recently, it’s served me well. Zero friends, never had any ever & didn’t want any. I don’t really know why. They’re too much effort, I don’t like to be interrupted & it’s too hard to figure out if I’m supposed to smile or say, “Aaww” when they say something. Given the fact there’s nothing that can be done for autism or extroversion-does it really matter if you are or aren’t? I’m not going to change now and I don’t *want to change. I have a place to live, my precious pets, the internet, my Kindle and an awesome riding lawnmower for mowing in the hot sun in summer.
Serious question-what more is there to life????