Which group did/do you fall in to as a teen/young adult?

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The way I see it, there are two types of ASDers; ones that were shut-ins during their youth, and ones that had got themselves influenced into alcohol and drugs and so we're out more at bars and nightclubs.

It seems most ASDers fall into one of these two groups. Embarrassingly I was a shut-in during my youth, simply because I wasn't very easily influenced into doing things I didn't want to do, so stayed away from drugs and alcohol, and I think we can find bars and nightclubs more intimidating if we aren't interested in getting drunk or high, so we tend to hide away where we feel safe.

The drug/alcohol type of ASDers seem to have more friends and more opportunities of going out, and from the naked eye they look like an ordinary NT with an ordinary social life. Shut-ins like myself look more like a stereotypical autistic, even though I'm no way stereotypical, but being a shut-in in my youth makes me feel more autistic than what I am.

And of course there are some ASDers out there who didn't fit in to either of those categories, like perhaps being more studious and studying hard at college and have maybe found a group of people they feel comfortable with (maybe also NDs or just studious NTs who also weren't into getting drunk or high).

So, which group did you fall into, or if you're under about 24, which group are you in? In other words, which road did you take to begin your adult life?

I'm just curious.

Both for me, and it fluctuated, shut-in because I ended up with mental health problems, which I then blamed wholly on the acid which I took at raves in the early 90s and the one time I went to Glastonbury. I was drawn to those I viewed as the cool crowd. Despite being completely anti-drugs at school, not long after I got to college I was converted. Never had an inkling I was autistic. Also excluded due to low/zero finances, and was always a bit socially awkward and different, and lived in a small village with few friends nearby. The MH problems was the most intensely difficult part of my life. After college, I didn't have a clue how to proceed with life, so went back an did another course. When that ended I slowly became more of a shut-in and obsessed with the memories of raves and Glastobury, powers of the mind, anything weird/alien/other-worldly. I was smoking my friends cannabis and felt like I was constructing stuff in my mind while high. I was looking to unlock some kind of non-verbal purely visual language of the mind that was possibly psychic and transmitted by aliens. I pretty much wanted to be abducted. One night it all kicked off inside my head and spent the night crying at my friends. My thoughts felt like physical pain in my head, my thoughts ran on a million railway tracks criss-crossing in a tangled web of pain. It took over a decade to actually get over it, inwardly, to stop fearing my own thoughts, and feel fully myself, my body, again. Before university, it had only really been the soft drugs, uni I fell in with semi-alcholics who encouraged me to drink excessively but then became angry when I couldn't handle it. I'd walk out of clubs and wander the streets late at night pissed up. One night I was beaten up for dishing out verbal abuse to strangers, but was saved by the police. Couldn't eat solid food for a week or more. Or would run from a friends house out of town into the middle of field in the middle of the night leaving everybody wondering where I was. Wake up at 5am in a field and have to walk back to my digs. I remember at uni having an out of body experience in the middle of a group discussion sat round in a circle of about 20 of us, I was massively in discomfort over not knowing where to look, my eyes darted around with every spoken word. Uni was partly enjoyable but I felt entirely ashamed of myself after I graduated. After uni, was when the real shut-in began, as the loss of friends continued, and my obsessions deepened, but this time with healthier subjects - so I guess uni did give my something - a passion for learning and self improvement. I worked sporadically living with my parents. My life slowly became more stable and normal, no more drugs (as no friends) and drinking reduced. Probably my 30s by that point and working regularly earning, and able finance the doing of things but nobody to do with.

I would have loved to have been in a stable enough environment when I could have stayed in
It's what I craved most in my younger years

Unfortunately this wasn't to be so I went out

I clicked on C

In high school I was pretty much a "shut in."

In college I had more of a social life, but it generally did not involve alcohol or drugs. It mostly revolved around talking to people over dinner about topics of common interest.

After I graduated from college, my social life involved attending meetings and events pertaining to my interests.

Some of these events were at venues where alcoholic beverages were served, but I did not feel pressure to drink alcoholic beverages. I drank either cranberry juice or plain water, if I drank anything at all. Some of my closest friends did likewise, if I remember correctly.

Would you like to go out clubbing? (Not asking as a date )

I spent a long time not going out, the types of clubs and bars I went to at uni I hated the music, it was the Britney Hit me baby one more time era. I wanted to go to undeground electronic/dance clubs as I hated pop music (quite common for people born around the 70s apparently), but there weren't any around where I was. After uni,I rarely went out for the next two decades until a year or two back I randomly went to a couple of nights out by myself. The first I enjoyed, the music right up my street, just a tiny little venue, wasn't too busy. The next one, a bigger name DJ, same small venue, I left before they even came on as had been there a couple of hours by myself, and it was getting too busy and people were too close to me. So I stopped doing that. Probably won't go to a club again..

I basically turned up tuned in and dropped out. I was there but never really present. As teen/young adult I was the invisible man.

During my high school years I was a timid little wimp. Some ASDers are high school drop-outs, while others stay in school to get the grades. I wasn't bothered about grades but I used to think that if I didn't turn up for school then something bad might happen, like I'll get into massive trouble or something. So that's why I kept going, as miserable as I was, because I just felt I had to.

I didn't really find a place to fit in and staid mainly at home, got a friend (originally my sister's) that popped in once in a while and vice versa. I did have some friends, some even sort of close. (Mom seem to have warned of my arch frenemy in those days 'if you get the chance to be a friend, it will be for life'...) Guy would safe my life a few years after but different story.

I do function in groups but if they are smaller. Bit of an explanation after this line but... long read, too much info and well... not exactly 'to the point' answer... Over here, some will understand.

--- the long rambling ---
In computer world I was dropped off 'sink or swim' in the amiga section of the (not so very) local computer club. After sister lost interest, first time really alone between strangers. Outsiders/context... Urban dictionary describes these as the worst type of example for 'fandom' and yes, I did turn full fundamentalistic radicalized amiga person... But to earn my place I had to learn all the tech stuff (didn't think I had any sort of artsy stuff in me... and those were 'them', not the excell/dos people). Even that bit of myself was part amiga, school just thought me I could not draw... but I could push pixels and express myself. To outcasts from the 'real computers' world. Even my music choices evolved into 'mine' instead of parents. (and yes... admitting, this was were newbeat started... but stuck to lesser extremes on that bit)
(that could have gone sooo much worse if it had been a different crowd)
Nostalgia makes this period better, didn't end well... and in other ways, it didn't end at all.
Had to prove myself to the computer crowd (even fights won... still lost), moved school 'out of town' (make it work, you are on your own) to study computers... made the mistake of explaining that to teacher comp classes, full on battle/badness. 'make it work' got bad but covered up very long and alarmbells got ignored. Learned to hate 'pc people' (but they were not the real issue). Had to change school, they tried correcting, sort of succeeded.
Thanks to treason by some idiot Maxon salesdrone (I will never forget and only partly forgive) making fun of me for asking about amiga (at that time they were still making more amiga soft than c4d) I did not flip, I broke down. Friend (pc 3ds max guy 'friendly competition') tried joking too but got me out (3d stuff wasn't as common as it was now, we were both a bit weird but already during college getting my 'something with computers' degree. He helped me move to pc, tried windows a bit but mainly the shareware/community really sucked and programs were expensive (certainly in the art department also terribly bad). Got into linux, got involved. More gently evolved into... one of those. Got involved with linchickx/telsagate, the ugly end of my love and faith for linux people (what always happen when stuff gets mainstream, the originals get bullied out) but lucky i didn't get (emotionally) involved that much. Yes, to me linux is dead. The os might be better and bigger as ever but the soul is gone. Just a tool. Will not shed a tear if it will be replaced by whatever. (good thing really) Was invited to an alumni IT meet were people like me (the dinosaurs that spend nights in offices to get stuff to work... for fun) were actively used as comic relief during the intermezzo. This is what IT "the industry" is for me now. I got it. I tried getting out, spend some time in emergency psycho care, got to know there are more people like me (while some of the literature pointed out we cannot feel stuff??? ). Now sort of happy back into it but more of a 'just a job' feel. Still want to do it well for the people but it is just a thing. I know now it was not those computers but those people I gave everything for.

At the moment I'm a total shut in - I feel like there aren't really many 'teen spaces' other than the internet anymore so it's difficult for me not to be, especially with no friends to convince me to leave the house xP

Shut-in and drinker aren't the only options but I was more indoorsy than my peers. I had friends but they weren't in one big group and I usually saw one at a time. Nearer the end of highschool I tended to get on with the misfits, eccentrics, spergs, special ed kids and the like. And because there weren't that many of us we all hung out in mixed ages groups. All in the same boat with no experience being party animal teenagers. I wanted to be, but wasn't invited by the kids who were like that.
When I left school I was more of a shut in due to a period of anxiety.

I had my first proper taste of night life and big groups as an adult, thanks in large part to furries and making friends with like minded weirdos. I enjoy clubs when I get the chance to go, I like dancing to music and I drink tap water the entire time!

In late primary school I was the classroom druggie.
Cannabis was my drug of choice but ironically it didn't make me more social. It just fit me more because I was often reserved and "spaced out" I did make other friends that smoked, but we didn't go parties, we just went to each other's houses to smoke weed and vibe together.
If I had to do school all over again I would have tried to fit in with the "nerds" I'm not smart enough to be one, but as far as Facebook is concerned they are the only group who made something of themselves.

I do feel ashamed of always being teetotal, even now as an adult. It's because of living in a culture that values drinking and is often what many social gatherings are centred around, so not drinking at all can make you feel out of place and socially isolated. I'm quite independent-minded so don't always get easily influenced into cultural norms unless I allow myself to. Even when I first tried smoking I never really got hooked on it like others tend to, even though I thought it was cool at the time (I was only 12).

But nearly everyone I know drinks, because it's such a normal, common thing to do. I want nothing more than to be lively in a bar, drinking away and having a laugh with friends, even if they're only really 'drinking buddies', society still views that as normal and sociable.

I know a man my age who definitely has Asperger's, but he has more of a social life than I do, because he likes to drink alcohol. He has a small circle of friends that he goes out to concerts and gigs with, stuff he probably wouldn't really fancy doing if he didn't drink. So alcohol is a social enhancement - even for a lot of NTs too. I mean I'm not exactly an introvert (I'm an extrovert with social anxiety, which is frustratingly contradictive), but sitting sober in an environment designed for drunkenness can be intimidating, even for an NT in my situation.

I just feel left out and weird when people talk about drinking. All my coworkers apparently drink as soon as they get home, and they often engage in jokes and stories about drinking, while I'm sitting there like, "I like to eat crisps when I get home."

Ugh, I wish I was somebody else. One who doesn't have an afflicting phobia of being sick. Then maybe I'd drink.

I order a pot of tea when I go in my local

Neither

In school, I was the most shut-in. I hated it. But as a kid and teen, I went out every day until sunset and knew all my neighbors.

I never touched alcohol or drugs. I liked staying clear-headed.

Now, I live in a new neighborhood, and I don't know a single person here.

Neither. I was a computer geek with a great group of gaming (dnd, board games, mtg, etc) friends. Nearly always had a steady boyfriend, went to all the dances, & never got into any group of friends who were into drugs or drinking. We gamed on weekends, but also went to movies, out to eat, the mall...

College friends were the same ish, even tho it was a commuter uni. I didn't get into the partying stuff until I was in my thirties. My money was spent on computer hardware, gaming, & gasoline, not booze.