Are you overly private/secretive about your interests?

Post Reply New Topic

I actually have an obsession over if anyone thinks I am autistic... Like today I was talking to a caseworker I somehow got on the bird subject then realized I was making a "stimming" like movement with my hand like I do when nervous then I wondered if she thought I was aspie... I'm usually afraid to ask especially if it is someone like that who is a mental health worker....

I am private about my interests.

Somewhat. Everybody I know knows I love Doctor Who and Torchwood, and they know it is a very intense special interest. I talk about those shows constantly and my bedroom is covered in pictures, posters, and other merchandise. However, they don't know about things like my Tumblr and Twitter and Instagram accounts dedicated to those shows and one particular character and actress from them. I mainly hide it because I had one special interest in a pop singer that people used against me to make fun of me. I get really upset when people use my special interests against me and always have. It really hurts a lot.

However, I am opening up a little more and becoming more comfortable being myself as time goes on. I have put some stuff about my favorite character and actress on my Facebook, which all my friends and family can see. I'm more open with my good friends than family, but there are a lot of personal reasons for that.

quite the opposite actually. i would Info dump on people before my diagnoses. anyone in earshot would hear about how much i love sonic, all the characters, who my favourite character is, his history first game appearance ect. I only stopped when my parents started begging me to stop and my psychologist taught me about conversation making and keeping topics on common interests. i rarely bring up my special interest but not out of secrecy (i wear a sonic shirt, necklace and watch and carry a sonic backpack and plush with me at all times, including work) i just dont talk about it to everyone because thats the social rule.

I too am overly secretive and shrink or hide the screen on the computer, or the show I watch, or whatever activity I was doing at the moment. Been this way all my life and only thing I can figure is that family, peers, etc would all have something negative to say or belittle me or my interests. So now I hide most everything I do if anyone is around to this day. And I always got from my mom "what are you so secretive about or what are you trying to hide". But then I had/have issues with her that are even worse now as she lives with me and I am her caretaker. Between that and the volume jacked up full tilt and well it is a living hell with me wearing earplugs and trying to hide when possible..

I relate to this 100%. I still have a hard time sharing some of my special interests with people, especially the ones that involve a movie or TV show.

You just described my childhood/adolescence to a T! I'm still this way but have gotten better

I used to have a "normal" website that I could click on in a hurry because I was self conscious. In my case, I was looking at astrology constantly and my mom/family is very religious so I felt I had to hide it. But I would do it with less controversial things too. I had forgotten about this habit!

I was obsessed with drawing Disney as a kid but would hide it out of fear of criticism. I drew for hours each day for years.

I loved reading but until I was an adult I couldn't let others see what I was reading. It was a big deal when I finally took a book to lunch in the work breakroom! People asked questions! But there were a lot of fellow book worms who read all sorts so I felt a little bit more comfortable

I rarely talk about my interests and when I do I try not to talk long and pretend it's any ole topic

It depends. I think I'm self-conscious about my interests (probably due to my high school experiences) so I try to always check myself. But sometimes the need to talk endlessly about my interests will be stronger than my restrain! In other words, I'm pretty secretive when I'm around my family or people I barely know. But I talk A LOT about my interests when I'm with my boyfriend! Even when we're talking about something unrelated, I would sometimes find a way to jump on my own interests.

Yes, but it wasn't always that way. As a child, I used to obsessively talk about my current obsession, not knowing that I was annoying other people by doing that. As a child and as a teenager, my main obsession was Pokémon and as a child, I was made fun of a lot because of that so eventually I just kept it to myself entirely. My current obsession now as an adult, I also keep to myself. Generally, I've found that the more I keep to myself, the less trouble I get into.

I'm sort of in between on this, or 'on the fence' as some people say.

On one hand, I don't like it when people straight up just barge into whatever I'm doing, like if I'm drawing and one of my classmates starts looking me over my shoulder, or if I'm doing schoolwork and my dad asks about it. It's the same with my special interest, which is a Danish crime show named Rejseholdet (Unit One in English). If I'm watching an episode, or looking at pictures of it, and someone comes into my room, I will close the tab.

However, in most cases if people ask me about my special interest, I'll be more than happy to share. It's to the point where I won't shut up unless people tell me to, because it feels good to share something I like.

Even now, as I'm writing this, I'm concerned about people looking at my screen around me.

So I guess in short, I like to share the things I like, but only with my permission.

I am when I'm around my family. I need to be or else my mum could disown me and for a lot longer than three days.

I have always been a very private person offline but that's because of bullying & being criticized & judged alot by my peers & authority figures like my parents. Being teased, criticized & judged because of things you like makes you less likely to talk about or engage in those activities around others. Some of my special interests at times were also very taboo subjects to talk about or engage in like masturbation & porn related things but I knew they were taboo so keeping it private offline wasn't a problem. I talked about that kind of stuff online aLOT but it's easier to find people interested in more taboo stuff online. I'm also less embarrassed online even if others have a problem with what I talk about.