Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else feel the urge to infodump when they are in social situations? For example, tonight I went to a lovely raclette evening with some people from my church and a few people were wondering where raclette cheese came from and I just felt the urge to spend 20 minutes explaining all about how it was from Switzerland and all about Swiss food and how it relates to Swiss culture.
Then someone else started talking about visiting Argentina and I felt the urge to spend 20 minutes discussing Juan and Eva Peron and the history of Argentina.
I have learned from past experience that infodumping like this does not tend to be socially acceptable so I stopped myself from doing it but just wondered if anyone else feels the need to do this sometimes, especially in social situations
Yes, very much! I usually start with just a little info, perhaps a fun factoid, and if the response is to ignore me I drop it (but still think the stuff!) and if the response is interest then I happily continue! It is not always easy to tell if the person/people is/are genuinely interested or just being polite, but I do try to at least pause occasionally so they can join in or change the subject! Sometimes it can result in an interesting conversation so I do not resist the urge unless I know that it would be unwelcome.
Yes I think this is a common Autistic trait. Over the years I have learnt to control it and hold back, even before I realised I was Autistic.
Same.
It's not received well.. "sure come along Rob, but please don't talk about x".