Have your "special interests" faded as you've gotten older?

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For context I'm in my early 50's now. As a kid I was always fascinated by airplanes and computers - seriously fascinated. I became a software developer mostly because of the latter, I still work in that industry. And I've been noticing that these things just don't hold the same appeal to me as they used to, don't capture me, and certainly don't fascinate me any more. Also, I don't really have any new interests that have replaced those, at least not to the same degree. I am just wondering if this is typical, or for those of you who are maybe a little too old to still be young, are you still just as into your special interests now as you always have been?

I think a lot of that depends on just how many, and how strong, any accompanying ADHD traits are present. Even for autistic folks that don't qualify for an ADHD diagnosis, there's no guarantee that there won't be traits messing with things like that. The special interests thing was always kind of iffy in terms of showing up the way that the diagnostic criteria suggested. I'm sure for plenty of people their thing would be something like trains, then and forever, but I don't think that it's always the case that their special interest is permanent.


I personally get the special interests treadmill pretty hard where the only thing that I'm really interested in is whatever I'm into at the moment and a short time later, I have no interest in it and forgot that that was even my thing.

Never had a long-running special interest. Probably never will.

My special interests have changed at various points but I'm still obsessive about my special interests.

Not faded -just shifted. Morphed. Evolved.

At first, I was obsessed with ants. Why they act in perfect coordination.
How scent becomes language, storage system, GPS, and ritual -all at once.

Then came Fibonacci. Then I dismantled everything at home -not to destroy, but to understand.
And since I got hit for it, I called that karma. A strange kind of justice. #fightthepower

Later I tried to merge interests. A tuning fork to the skull. What would ants hear?
What happens in triangular resonance structures?
That phase was wild. Beautiful, even.

Then music took over: piano, violin, drums.
That one stayed.

But when I realized something was “wrong” with me,
when people yawned mid-conversation …and I thought: maybe I’m exhausting. (look up ego-depletion)
I turned to psychology.

That didn’t last.
We are predictable systems. The patterns repeat. Interest fades.

Now? Just paradoxes. And physics.
Not for answers. For the resistance in logic.

No more ants.
No more tuning forks.
Just music. Sometimes algebra.
And the joy of unsolvable things. -which, sometimes, reveal themselves when we ask the right question. That moment feels like magic.-
So yeah – I keep exploring. The magic starts when you want to understand why something feels magical.

Mine didn't really fade. It did not quietly went into a distant loss.

More like I lost it. I was around 24 or so.
Lost amidst of noises of whatever's going on with me and my priorities in life.

My special interest in crafting lasted for about 15 years. It's still an interest, just losing the 'special part'.

And didn't have another to replace it.
All I got left were habits that looked like hyperfixations or what constitutes the 'special part' and without the interests -- to fill up the silence with noise, whatever my brain just tends to do or want/not want.

It's been about 6 years now or so.
I want it back.

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@ScrewyWabbit
Maestro,

Thank you for your post and open question.
I'm gently knocking on the door labeled '50' as well and I fully get what you a referring to.
I have a similar ICT background and would have sworn when asked at 18-25-35 y.o. that ICT would be my passion for life, but...
As already stated in responses by other peers, interests change even 'special' interests... I cannot fill in your scenario, but for me after some attempts to 'fix' and later humble questioning myself, I found it just to be a case of the "magicians-curtain"... once lifted, once you know or have done enough (and 'enough' varies from mind to mind) on/of a topic the appeal/magic gradually fades...

Kind regards,
Kada

Yes, they just suddenly began to fade when I was in my late 20s and it caused me a lot of anxiety and frustration while others thought it was a *good* thing. This was shortly before I was diagnosed with Asperger's. On the other hand, I'm glad I don't have the OCD-like obsessions and intrusive thoughts nearly as strongly as I did then.

I will ALWAYS be very fascinated by the different phonetic ways girl names can be spelled. This started up when I was around 11, and I'm at least as old as the OP. In fact, this evening I was watching a reality show where someone was talking to the mayor of a small town. The mayor's name appeared in the lower left of the screen. Her first name was Aprill. They showed it for so short that I wasn't sure I saw that second "L," so I hit replay to see if there really was two L's. I had to SEE it. And I confirmed it. So cool. However, I prefer Aypril or maybe Aypryl, or Apryll, or maybe Aipryl or Aipryll or Aeprill...

FINALLY, another autistic who has a spin in Fibonacci. Thought I'd never come across one. Unfortunately it's not in person. How deep did you go on that? Did you know that the dimensions of the human DNA molecule is 21 x 34 (angstroms)?

Telomeres ?
Have had a a number of them , Halloween has been almost a lifelong one. Then started looking for patterns ....
or would find a topic , I liked , or got curious about..then would learn about ,everything I could about it.