My interests don't match other people of my own age...

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I've been feeling this for a long time now... I'm 14 and often when I ask people of my own age if they know about anything that I'm into, they usually say no. Yet then they ask me if I recognise anything they know, and I say no most of the time, or at most have limited knowledge. Often I only feel like other children of my own are "use" me, since I am quite an honest person who is teased easily. I'm wondering if my interests are at all out of time with now, and if so what decade they would come into...

In general, I dislike these "vintage" 1960s style Instagram pictures - they just look fake. Yet I am happy for people to be using unedited photos or photos actually taken using the technology of the time. So I tend to dislike digital photos being given analogue looks. I tend to feel that while phones have made getting on the web much easier, the look of many websites has been broken and now many desktop websites just look like overblown versions of their mobile counterparts.

When it comes to music, I have very little knowledge of what is in the charts at any particular time. Rather I tend to listen to more progressive stuff. Most of what I like that did make it into the charts was released 20-40 years ago. Little new stuff that I like makes it.

For cartoons, other boys of my age tend to draw manga related stuff, and my parents told me once that my cartooning style "isn't really in fashion at the moment". I get the same impression from many of my "friends" on Facebook. Can you tell me what you think of these ones by me in your comment somewhere...

http://rjdg14.altervista.org/cartoons/s ... _Photo.JPG

http://rjdg14.altervista.org/cartoons/s ... dAngus.JPG

Below are my interests in comparison with others of my own age...

GENERAL INTERESTS OF MINE: Roads, Cartooning, Computers (PC), TV

MY MUSICAL TASTE: Progressive Rock, Rock, Punk, Metal, Goth, Opera/Goth metal
OTHER 14YR OLDS MUSICAL TASTE: UK Top 40, iTunes stuff, Vevo, Rap

MY CARTOON TASTES: Simpsons, Comic books such as the Beano (1970s/80s/early 90s)
OTHER PEOPLES CARTOON TASTES: Manga, Warrior style cartoons

MY CLOTHING TASTES: Checked shirts, t-shirts, brown trousers, boots, cap at most
OTHER 14YR OLD BOYS CLOTHING TASTES: Hoodies, t-shirts, jeans, trainers, beanies

From this, what era would you put me in? Was I born in the wrong decade or not?

I also like stuff from decades to like punky Brewster and I also like American girl dolls. I like making music videos with them. I'm afraid people might make fun of me if I take them outside but I love them anyway.

*Sighs* Welcome to the club. I'm 40 and it feels like only kids and people half my age like are supposed to like what I like, and if someone my age does like they're stereotyped as some unemployed obese creepy guy who's still a virgin and living in his parent's basement. Because of this it's hard for me to have real two-way conversations with people I don't know well. Although just last week I met another adult women who shared my knowledge and interest of Sea Monkeys...

When it comes to cartoons, it's the ones from The Golden Age of Animation that really rule. But with everyone else it seems to be anime this, anime that. Not long ago I watched Popeye VS. Sinbad the Sailor which is still awesome after all these years and people are comparing Popeye to Luffy the anime pirate or whatever his name is.

A few weeks ago I was watching a new video by Stuart Ashens where he opens up and tastes a can of ham or some kind of meat that's 27 years old, and he claims that's much older than many people watching the video. I replied sarcastically by thanking him for making me feel old, and that maybe I should go watch something more appropriate for my age, like The Top 10 Denture Cleaners (I still have all my teeth).

Recently there was a commercial for Kraft mac and cheese shaped like the Ninja Turtles and Vanilla Ice makes an appearance where he's doing his "Go Ninja Go Ninja, GO" with the mother while her kid looks completely WTH. I could almost see the equally blank stares of people who are under 30 or never knew that back in the 90's there was a sequel to the first TMNT movie called The Secret Of The Ooze where Vanilla Ice raps with the Turtles. After the movie is more than half over, and he's in it for maybe a minute and a half. I was surprised , however, because I thought had Vanilla Ice melted years ago.

I don't like in style things either. I am really into X files right now but my mom says it's old interest for my age bc I was only little when it was out and she thinks I should watch Teen Wolf instead or PLL but I don't like those.

I really like your drawings. They remind me of illustrations by Tony Ross - the guy who illustrates the Horrid Henry books.

I see where you're coming from, although there are still quite a lot of differences. Only the blonde boy on the second image (or whichever one had two boys) reminds me anything of him.

People still haven't said, though, exactly which decade my interests fall into, which was the part that I was most interested in... This includes my style of cartooning, clothing, musical tastes and any other interests of mine...

i have yet to meet anyone my age (17) who is interested in linguistics like me.

in my school, i'm all alone in my ability to count in finnish and create new scripts for english.

I'm 20 years old, and I still feel like a teenager in a lot of ways, yet most of the stuff that I like is old. Well, "old" in relative terms at least; the main things I'm into are:

- music from the 80s and 90s
- computer/video games from the 90s and early 2000s
- computers and their architectures, particularly when it comes to optimizing computers for performance, or getting older systems in working order
- reading about, and building an encyclopaedic knowledge of all sorts of random interesting things

I'm also somewhat into other aspects of "nerd culture" as well, though not the same aspects as my friends are, and certainly not to the extent that they are. To put it in a gigantic nutshell:

- Many of my friends are obsessed with anime and manga. While I have dabbled in these a bit more than the average person, I'm not nearly as into them as my friends. I am somewhat interested in Japanese culture, but I'm nowhere close to being a full-on otaku.
- Most of my friends are gamers. Most of them play the hottest new AAA titles, and spend a good amount of time playing highly competitive games online. I don't really like super-competitive games that require a lot of dedication, and I'm not a huge fan of modern games, so I tend to play a lot of retro stuff instead. I'm also much more into PC gaming than console gaming.
- I am literally obsessed with music, and I listen to all sorts of stuff that would make normal people's heads spin. My friends play it safe and stick to popular rock/rap/pop/EDM, while I'm getting into obscure industrial and post-punk bands. I listen to a fair amount of "popular" stuff too, but with the "popular" musicians I like, I often delve more into their deeper cuts and more obscure material.
- A lot of my friends follow popular novels and TV series. I don't really do these, because I simply don't have the interest or attention span for them, though I have watched and enjoyed bits and pieces of TV series my friends just happened to be watching.

People think being a nerd is about being like the guys on "The Big Bang Theory". While those guys are nerdier than me in some ways, in other ways I vastly out-nerd them. I may not know about all of Superman's powers, but I can sort of explain why the original IBM PC architecture was limited to 640kB of ram.

The real question for us aspies to ask is: What things do we like that actually ARE (at least semi-)popular?

I really, really know the feeling. I'm 15, going to be 16 and have the most unique taste in things.

TV = Little kid shows or NITV (google it).

Music = Electronic music, but definitely not the kind you might be thinking of. I like very retro, old-school, unique and obscure stuff. Like this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMu0aF_L4X8

Movies = Anything that's not popular/known well/liked very much.

Most often I find myself loving movies that everyone else hated when they came out, and/or did not make much money in the theaters when they came out.

Some favorite movies of mine are The Room, Superhero Movie, Vampires Suck, Before Sunset, Win a date with tad hamilton, Daddy Day Camp, Bad Boyz I & II, I, Robot, Austin Powers, Star Wars, and Adam Sandler movies.

But anyway, I actually do like a fair bit of mainstream stuff.

Mainstream electronic music, a little pop, but no mainstream movies or tv shows. Marvel superheroes...

Here is my question for everyone else: Give us some things you DO like that everyone else likes?

I dress like you all the time
I like your drawings a lot too, and my music taste isn't that common. I like being different, i just do what makes me happy

_________________
Shy, awkward 16 year old communist girl whose main interests are 9/11, roller coasters and the 1917 Russian Revolution. I might not have any friends but somehow I have a really amazing boyfriend

I, as a high functioning aspie, am somewhat stuck in the middle.

I love debate (Well, mostly arguing... I love to prove my points and open up another point of view for others.) and once I graduate school, I'll probably start being more active in the Autism community. I am told a lot that I am quite charismatic, and though I lack self esteem, I love to speak publicly and talk about my interests. I DO know things other than science and math, and I have social skills.

I'm not "geeky", either. I play LoL, Runescape and Final Fantasy occasionally (I only really go on three or so times a year) and the only comic I've ever read is Captain America (I only have three, at that. I know. I'm a disgrace.) To be fair, I do love anime and manga, but other than that, my knowledge of geek culture is apallingly bad.

I do indulge occasionally in the video game section, but I'm far from a "real" gamer. I only have ps3, DS and PC games, most of which are "Kid" games like the sims or minecraft.

I don't devour books like crazy, because I have a strict taste in books (Is that sentence correctly phrased?). I like deep, dark plotlines with sharp twists and sad endings. I like history books, but science books are a no-no. Historical fiction = <3 I have a massive bookshelf in my bedroom to store my book collection, but once I read books (unless I LOVE them) I
donate them or give them to another friend who might like them.

I actually do like some mainstream pop culture. I like rap, listen to metal every once in a while, and my spotify is majorly pop and the above mentioned. I do use facebook, instagram, etc. I do like vintage, but I'm not a fan of vintage music, really.

I LOVE LINGUISTICS. I'm still fairly new to it, considering the area I live in, so I'm a complete n00b compared to you, but I try my best.

Other than that, I like to stay on top of news and homework etc. I'm a bit of a workaholic, and I put school and work in front of friends. I plan to start official work next Summer, since it'll actually be legal for me then.

Dude. I went through the same thing in the early 90s. What decade does it put you in? Well the "going retro" thing keeps popping as a counter culture over the decades and your interests aren't from a discrete time period.

You weren't born in the wrong decade, you are just in the wrong decade of your life.

At your age there is pressure to fit in. When you are in your early 20s, you are going to want to stand out. Your interests can be used to make you "interesting" and "not a clone" and "cultured". Teenage girls want boyfriends that make them fit in. Young women want boyfriends that make them seem more interesting.

When your 22, the other guys will have little to talk about that everyone else didn't grow up with.
You, Young Grasshopper, need to prepare to be fascinating to women. If you get it right...well...I can't tell you the things I got to do in a kid forum. And I was severely Argrophobic due to being aspie. And I made that seem interesting too, which saves a lot of money on expensive dates.

Don't try to be popular now. That will eat away your soul and is not as important as it seems and you will hate your self for doing it. Practice being the intriguing and mysterious guy you already are (Cause you got seriously good taste).

The NTs can be a bit slow. Try not to hate them for it. They will catch up to you eventually.