Information addiction?

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I know it's typical for us spectrum folk to become attached to a special interest and get totally absorbed by it, seeking everything there is to know about it. I find that this happens to me with every single thing I find myself being interested in. I wish there was more time for things like this, because I feel happy and excited when I'm on a mad information chase! Does this happen to you for everything, or is it only specific to your main interest(s)? What do you think are the positive and negative consequences of this particular trait?

Yes it happens for me. I recently got into cycling to get out into the country and find myself checking the make of every bicycle I see around town as well as checking secondhand adverts then researching old models and their values.

I've been like this with all of my special interests. I keep ordering books about The Kinks off the kiosk at Chapters. I do a lot of research on vintage TV sets when WP is down. I also spend a lot of time on E-How, looking for ways to improve myself. I became obsessed with self improvement again, when I saw the light during the closing months of 2009.

I am a total information addict. I'm almost constantly looking up information on my phone or on the computer. I go in and out of special interests, though. However, there is pretty much a specific set of interests that I cycle in and out of: Programming, autism research, neuroendocrinology esp. with respect to homosexuality, quantum physics and relativity, the book Dune, general endocrinology, general neurology, and biographical information about people I find interesting.

But whatever it happens to be, it usually follows that for the first three days I cycle back into that interest, researching it is all I can think about and all I want to do. But then, it fades a little bit and I'm able to hold off until I have free time.

When I acquire a new interest, I feel like I'm going to die if I don't collect as much information on it as I can. It gets very uncomfortable, I have to admit!

yeah, i like the feeling of my brain expanding with new knowledge. i believe most things in our world can be explained and i want to research the explanation.

If you might have ever seen "Johnny Five" in the sci-fi romantic comedy "Short Circuit", that is me ...

"Input! Mooorre input!"

When I find something interesting or that something that I like a lot, I have a tendency to get really into it, like the original poster stated.

I will sit and hit the Random link on Wikipedia just to feed my information addiction.

During the intense phases of one of my obsessions, I am the person who stands in front of the library at 7.30 (opening time) desperate to get in, cause last night I found the perfect book in the library catalog, but it was already closed, making me sleep bad because of my desperation to get it before anyone else does.

I'm an information addict. People always say things to me like 'How do you know that?'.

When my daughter was a pre-schooler, I made it my point to find out about every class that was on in the area. We went to a few of them and if we decided to stop going to one I always had a catalogue in my head, so I could pick another. Other mums would mention that they fancied taking their child to gymnastics, for example, and I'd immediately be able to tell them where they could try for classes.

I do this with loads of things. At the moment, I'm doing my best to find out everything I can about Aspergers, as my daughter is being assessed for ASD and Aspergers is the most likely outcome.

I can never get too much info on a subject I find interesting.

@wavefreak58 No problem. It has been the devourer of many hours.

For those of us who figured out about Asperger's later in life, remember frantically searching everything that has to do with Asperger's online, for hours on end?