Not surprised.
I can imagine our brains fall idle without social stimulation
Not necessarily. What happens when a person remains alone sometimes the brain creates its own stimulation in daydreaming, flights of fancy, and contemplation. Sometimes being alone can make a person creative. Granted, if you spend all your time by yourself you miss out on a lot of important information, like job vacancies, entertainment events, and birthdays of potential friends. But being alone you can start to get a lot of useful ideas. A lot of creative people were maladjusted and isolated.
I think everyone needs some time alone to reflect, but too much alone time canāt be too good.
I get over stimulated when around strangers, but once I know them itās easier.
Or maybe dumb as in talking.
People who cannot hear well can appear not smart.
Didnāt read it but I have been watching this in myself for years. I think my first post on this forum was about this.
I agree and disagree. Im not a smart person but being inward directed, introverted, introspective, thoughtful or whatever I spend most of my time thinking about various ideas of one kind or another. I dont socialize at all and that surprisingly is my preference. If I was a social person and my thoughts were all affective sh1t like im lonely, im sad, im no good etc then i think that would be detrimental to the brain.
Even before the Covid situation I saw very few people apart from my stepfamily.Those that I did see were not for social chitchat. They were a depot nurse,cleaner,foot specialist,social worker etc.
Thereās a line of reasoning that says smart people tend to have fewer friends.That may or may not dovetail with being more socially isolated. My main means of interacting with others is through the internet, and a combination of forums,Facebook and Twitter. Itās easier ,comparatively speaking, to interact that way. I struggle with f2f interaction due to things like not knowing when to approach people and initiate a conversation.
Then thereās the issue of people getting too close and personal that can make feel awkward and uneasy. Not because anything wrong has been done by that person. Itās because I think the more people get to know me, the more theyāll see Iām not a good and worthwhile person. I tend to go into avoidant when people online get too personal.
IRL it has to be said Iām quite asocial. Iāve been that way from as far back as I can remember. Iām not totally against seeing people, but Iām not proactive in seeking F2F social interaction with other people. 98% of the time Iām quite content with my own company.
Whether IRL or via the internet I 'm not 'Mr popularity. On Facebook the largest group wanting to be friends with āmeā has been those from the high IQ groups. My number of FB āfriendsā has tripled in the 15 months or so of being in such groups.
If it was your average FB member wanting to be friends Iād be far less likely to agree to being āfriendsā. Not because theyāre bad people, but because theyāre more likely to get too personal for my liking.
Socializing is different than using the internetās forums. Socializing is an instantaneous, space sharing social bonding event between people.
Of course I wouldnāt argue otherwise. Itās just that I cope better with the latter. The social difficulties/inadequacies are comparatively less of a problem on an internet forum.
But I would agree if you said it was a simulation, a word that seems to be used often around here, to socializing. Some people are more social in how they use a forum with friendly banter, forging online friendships, saying pleasantries, etc.
I struggle massively when it comes to āsmall talkā or ācasual conversationā. Itās not something that comes naturally to me. That having been said Iāve been a lot more social since the forum moved to using the current software than I ever was the 15 or so years before that.
When I go to the barbers - I always mentally say to myself āāplease donāt talk to me! please donāt talk to me!āā. I hate when they talk to me. I have no confidence.
Iām in the beginning of having a platonic relationship with a male friend of mine. Iām asexual, heās gay - and Iām very happy. We cuddle alot and heās cuddley. And this person is on the ASD spectrum, Heās diagnosed ASD. And heās the most honest, kindest. tenderest person I know.
Iām the same. The woman who cuts my hair now is an acquaintance/friend of my stepdaughter. They were work colleagues at a school for SEND children. Her main job is still doing that, so sheās more knowledge about ASD than the average person that cuts hair.
Can I say @firemonkey
Iāve been 3 years here and Iāve always liked you presence here on the SZ forums. No need for a reply.
I do like your intelligence with your IQ knowledge. I know you have difficulties with you own Autistic difficulties. But within the IQ knowledge you are well read and Iām not arse kissing. xx
Hmm. . .
The Fact That People Are Actually Giving Thus ātopicā Any Time Of Day Is Baffling.
Makes Absolutely No Sense.
Probably Jus Another Way To Seek For Nurturing From Those With Bleeding Hearts.
~P.s. Hope, Trust, True Love, Honesty, Joy, And Endlessly Eternal Peace!.~ 
Yes and no. One can substitute online interaction for F2F. Other ways to stimulate oneself intellectually as well.
Can you explain - the stimulate oneself intellectually as well?
I read. I audit free courses on edx.org. I do at least half an hour of French practice per day on duolingo.com. I have hobbies like photography that engage me. I run an online radio station as a hobby as well. What I try to avoid is just sitting around and watching TV.