The Single-Minded Pursuit of Something...

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Okay, I know I've talked so much smack about topics discussing correlations between something and Asperger's syndrome, but I think I've actually seen expert researchers on autism mention something like this, so here it goes: I am single minded. I generally don't multitask; if I do do (I said do do ), I switch from one task to the other every few minutes, and that's usually when just reading things on the variegated Internets.

Anyway, when I use Internet Relay Chat (IRC), to, for example, visit #wrongplanet on irc.freenode.net, I dislike being in other channels at the same time. I don't like keeping up with multiple threads of conversation, especially if there's active discussion in more than one channel. I'll just stick to one and ignore the rest.

Anyway, I think I need to make a sweeping generalization: "I feel that focusing on only one IRC channel to the exclusion of all others is a part of having AS, so I expect everyone to chim in saying how right I am." Maybe it would have been better if I chose something more unusual like a peculiar way of walking, odd food preferences, etc. Oh well, there's always another thread just around the corner to talk about a love for cottage cheese mixed with yellow mustard.

yeppers.

What the hell does what you do on IRC have to with AS?

Or an even bigger question: what does an IRC have to do with odd food preferences such as cottage cheese and mustard?

Do you talk to your psychiatrist about this stuff?

I can't keep up with multiple conversations IRL or IRC (ha! pun.) but I can on AIM up to a point. I'm not sure if the need to focus on one CONVERSATION is an Aspie thing solely; it's pretty confusing for anyone, I think.

I don't mind being on multiple chats, though I usually only put thought into one at a time. I had to get used to this since on IRC people seem to be PMing out the wazzoo.

I guess that's a semi-no for me. Though my multitasking is usually kept to one word responses in my other chats.

I don't do moderation. Either i give it my all or i - not even half assedly - like .05% assedly. Either i take 5 or 6 classes at once, or i spend 4 months playing world of warcraft.

If i try to moderate i will keep secondguessing myself if given my deadlines in both things how my current time would most effectively be spent. I need to dedicate myself to something 100% or not at all. When i was in highschool at times i wanted to kill my art teacher. Okay, so you make me draw, paint or otherwise create this kind of a thing, and you've actually convined me to do it? And now you want me to "wrap it up" and work on it tomorrow. f**k that. If you are going to make me do something. Even more important than that, if i am ever DOING something a few degree's worth of signifigance, you have to accept that i need to work on it until I FINISH. And I wont be finished until it is perfect. If you don't want me to produce perfection don't ask for me to create. Grrr.

Neanthumain made this request,

For the sake of argument;
you are absolutely wrong, no ifs ands or butts about it!
WRONG
WRONG AGAIN!! !

You blew your argument the moment you stated;

I know someone who can have 50 or more chats going on at once on AIM, and I can't handle more then 3 or 4. Social multitasking is what I have a problem with, most everything else is fine.

I can't do any multitasking (though minor multitasking is a little easier on IRC than IRL for some reason). But then again, not that I really want to multitask. Multitasking leads to shoddy work.

There was an article about that I think in Scientific American Mind. They agreed: shoddy work.

I am perplexed by sophists statement,

What is shoody work you said it twice
a. multitasking leads to...
b. the origional hypothesis...
c. both!


for me it would be c.

Not to put too fine a point on it: half-assed work. Poor quality. Substandard. Crap.

That sounds about right. I am able to multitask up to a certain point, but I end up spending mental energy on juggling multiple tasks that I could be using to review and correct errors in a single task. It also takes a lot of mental energy to overcome the frustration that results from interruptions and that sort of thing.

There was this huge torturous systems conversion project going on at work a couple months ago. My attention was always being pulled in a thousand different directions and people kept interrupting me with all kinds of crap. Whenever I'd get a chance to spend some time on just one project, I'd find that I'd overlooked something important and needed to make corrections. I'm talking about stuff that I usually catch pretty early on. It was awful.