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
I only infodump in my head nowadays. I'm always worried the other person is not interested, so when they mention something I'm into and I get the urge to talk a lot, I just pretend I'm having the conversation in my head and then I can infodump nonstop
In reality I barely speak at all.
Same.
It's not received well.. "sure come along Rob, but please don't talk about x".
Yes, I do but probably not in huge detail. It can also include my wondering on a subject. It does depend who I am with. I know someone who also goes into detail about things so in that case it works ok.
Thats a good way to do it. I love that you say you still think the stuff even if you dont say it. Thats what I do too! I did that last night
I go to the village pub on a Friday evening, a group of pensioners who i know asked me a film question. It was like autistic catnip, I gave them the answer, what the answer meant and then the filming location, year of release and a potted history of the family who owned the filming location which was a castle. I got a comment afterwards that it was obviously my favourite film. My reply was “ no, I’ve never seen the film.” I spend hours researching facts, one word answers will never suffice. When I had finished, one of them had googled the film and then looked a bit shocked.
I also enjoy listening to other people's infodumps. OK there are some subjects I would not want 20 mins on, but in general I am as happy hearing an infodump as giving one. I think that is the other half of the communication differences, when we infodump we would like/expect others to receive it as happily as we would so we are disappointed when it is not reciprocated.
I don’t have the required memory to do that unfortunately. However, I would be very happy to listen to 20 minutes on the history of Raclette whilst eating Raclette. I’m sure it would enhance the experience.
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.
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.