If you had the chance to start over in life...

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...would you be able to make more friends?

I am thinking that I might have. Here's the thing...

For most people, social interaction with people your age starts in kindergarten. Too bad I was always daydreaming when I was little. If only I decided to socialize with others, I would be able to keep up with what people my age should know about. And that is one major social barrier for me today, as I am never able to keep up with whats going on with people my age, and it seems like its kind of too late now, or at least it is very hard to keep up.

The reason that I'm not up to speed on what people my age know about, is because I'm not mainstream and I'm not interested.

I dont think it would make a difference for me how many times I start over.

I'm bound to find a new way to screw it up everytime.

I often feel like that, jc6chan. When I was in school, I didn't put as much value on having friends as I do now. Everyone said that studying was more important, so I thought it was good not to have as many distractions. If I were starting over, I would probably focus more of my attention on making friends, because now I understand that that's important too.

But I try not to dwell too much on the past. Everyone has things they would do differently if they could go back and use the knowledge they learned later. And I can still try to make friends now.

Only if I could do it over with what I now know.

Can't say I'd avoid every mistake or be remarkably better, but I'd certainly be empowered to avoid a lot of the issues I had.

That sort of implies nobody socialized with you in kindergarten. Were that the case, I would argue you made the right decision -- if nobody expresses any interest in you, what responsibility do you have to express interest in them?

Now, if we talk about situations in which it was obvious that other people were interested, then we have a different question. Of course it would be better off if we magically knew the "correct" social cues, went back to kindergarten or elementary school or even middle school and Did Things Right.

But somehow, if I could have Done Things Right, I'd like to have gone back to elementary school, where I had some semblance of a social life, and corrected a whole bunch of minutae I'd rather not talk of. Thing is, we moved in 6th grade, and I know that it wasn't at all my fault for moving -- so most all of the gain would be lost. Thus, a more reasonable place to begin would be switching middle schools in eighth grade, and knowing in advance all of the theorems to tell if someone is genuinely interested in you, as well as the conversational conventions of 2003-era middle-school students -- the latter of which still seems too advanced to comprehend today.

Would I start over with no knowledge, or would I still know everything I've learned over the years?

Either way, it wouldn't make much of a difference for me. In primary school I had friends anyway. In secondary school, I have a nice small circle of friends and more Aspie friends online, and I'm generally accepted and not bullied or anything at school, which is all I want.

Outgoing people feel that responsibilty, but I don't think much aspies are outgoing.

Being normal is overrated, anyways.

If I would start all over again, I would spend less time trying to make friends on highschool and focus on programming.

This is the same way that I feel.

While I have had an active and social life (and lots of experiences) thus far, I wish that I hadn't been obsessed with certain people and ignored others. I feel bad that didn't put a lot of time into a friendship with a young man from my neighborhood, whom I found out later that I shared a number of things in common with, and has turned out to be a well-respected and prominent member of our community. Lastly, I would of liked to pick up on things such as socializing a lot quicker than I did during my childhood.

If I could start over with what I know now -
I would be awesome!

Aside from that: I like the friends I have. If I had to start over, I still want to connect with the same people again.
Maybe I'd use my required secondary superpowers for easy money and influence, to the benefit of my friends. I could ease their student debts with really loose loans. (Gifts could be socially problematic.)

Nope. I'd have less. I'd be doomed. The only friends I really have, I've known since I was 5 or younger. I haven't been able to keep a friend since then.

Yes but being lonely is worse.

If I could start life over then yes I would be able to make more friends. I think it would have prevented or at least lessened the severity of my depression and so I probably would have stayed in school. I wouldn't want to be normal but being able to talk to people without thinking about what to say first would make life a lot easier for me.

Same here, I'd start programming at a younger age. If I did that, I might even have a few grand in the bank by now.

I would have spent less time online in high school. I wish.

Though more likely, I'd just repeat the same mistakes