The Great Perils of Social Interaction

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NTs struggle with these things too? Who woulda thunk it?

http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/01/the-great ... ction.html

We all do! That's the human condition.

One:This might hurt someone's feelings here as its implying that autistic people are in some way kind of like everyone else, so it discounts their unique struggles and differences from the ordinary population.

Two: Maybe the author of that piece is autistic and doesn't know it.

Three:

Seems highly likely, especially since they obsessed over the subject enough to write a long dissertation on it.

Nice.

Haha, I like the squirrel cartoon on the blog.

Only just started reading, but this seems good so far.

I wonder if the author is autistis? After all, my observation of NT's suggest that not only do they not have a problem with this sort of thing, but they may not even be aware that it could be a problem because it's mostly an intuition function. maybe that's why they call them the unwritten rules.

I really enjoyed that, thanks for sharing it. Possibly created by one of the WP members!

There isn't a doubt in my mind that NTs struggle with this too. What I think the difference is: it's just not an everyday challenge or concern for them. I think the difference is that NTs can walk into a room full of strangers and naturally just pick up the social cues/rules while knowing instinctively how to not break any of those rules until they are understood. I do know though, that several of my friends who most certainly are not autistic, have embarrassed themselves by breaking social rules on occasion.

The other difference I think is that (this is based on personal observation alone) is that confidence and "attractiveness" allows someone a great deal of flexibility in breaking social rules without creating awkward moments. I think that's the other thing NTs do, is they fallow a set of unwritten rules, but at the same time create their own and know how to send non-verbal cues alerting people of their unwritten rules.

And finally, I think when NTs do make social mistakes, which they certainly do, they can see the social mistake more clearly than those of us on the spectrum. Because I think they can see the situation in it's entirety more easily, their social mistake then doesn't cause them much embarrassment. Also NTs almost certainly know how to recover quickly and seamlessly from a social screw up than those on the spectrum.

Here is an excerpt, the author says:

"That’s the way things are—there is an intricate set of thousands of social rules, and we’re all sharply attuned to them. If we weren't, we’d be sent away somewhere. Even being nearly perfect will get you into trouble—you can have 98% of the rules down cold, but that last 2% will leave you with a reputation of “rude” or “weird” or “creepy.”

Then she does on to chronicle social difficulties with subtle things that probably many NTs and ASDers have. People with ASD along with people with other clinical level social impairment caused by other things would be the ones who have a reputation of being "rude", "weird" or "creepy", who aren't sharply attuned to the intricate set of social rules.