Is this NT/Normal, or AS/Repetitive Movements?

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Not exactly stimming, but repetitive movements, as mentioned in the DSM, like "hand flapping".

Just out of curiosity, as it's likely just a normal thing; but more than several times a day I tend to "crack" my knuckles, bite fingernails, both to the point where I can't do it anymore (trying to crack knuckles when they won't, and biting fingernails when they're nothing left to bite).

sounds like both

Stims are constant body movements that diffuse stress and anxiety.


Nail biting, hair twirling, knuckle cracking, head patting, tummy rubbing and things of that sort are fidgets, nothing Autistic about them.

I disagree. If these things are constant, especially with something else combined, they could be stimming.

I doubt that NTs listen to their favourite songs four times, in a row. I see it, as an AS thing.

Do you do that too Cockney! At the moment, it is Queens' "I've got to break free" over and over again. My family are going to cry soon.

Mics

Sounds like a thing most people would do. But hand flapping seems more of a common thing if your on the spectrum.
Mostly triggered by being nervous or just a habit of doing it.

I do that all the time...thought everyone did it, but maybe not???

4 would be an absolute minimum for me. I've listened to individual tracks repeatedly for many days on end, and albums can sometimes last for months.

I really don't think four times would be unusual. I think that anyone who is really into a song might put it on repeat. I've listened to the same song on repeat for weeks on end, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this (NT or AS). Particularly when a new song/album by a favorite artist comes out, I think people tend to listen on repeat.

Heck, I've even burned CDs to play in my car which are sixteen tracks of the same song (I figured multiple tracks would spread out wear more evenly across the CD surface)- that might not be quite as common however!

To the OP, I don't know whether that behavior counts as "stimming" or not, but I doubt that it is associated with AS (NTs stim too!- just usually differently than autistics). I have known lots of (presumed) NTs with those behaviors.

Nonsense, Nt's listen to songs over and over again. It's call the radio.

This is exactly what I've been saying for the past week here lol

Headphones! Be kind to your family's tear ducts!

re: willard

motor tics can be anything from small things to large complex motions like stretching. Dr. Tony Attwood comments on this and provided a list of examples. Something as small as lip biting (one of my primary tics) can be a motor tic. So it's not correct in my opinion to say that "fidgeting" is not a stim. A motor tic is a motor tic.

I noticed that when I went in for diagnostic interview my usual tics were absent, but my hands went into a clasped position where my fingers would pick at the nails which had rough points to pick from being recently bitten.

Tics are not stims though. And for most people, biting their fingernails or cracking their knuckles is not a tic, it is just a repetitive habit.