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you don’t need to be neurodivergent to appreciate the dark….
for example, you could be one of those mole people with no pigment (i.e. northern white peoples)….You could also be a radiologist.
No pigment? They’re transparent?
i was speaking in hyperbole, but, lack of pigment doesn’t make you transparent.
see also: albinos.
Ooooh story time…
I worked for a small company in 2017/2018 that had recently expanded its building and added offices into their second floor, which had previously been a storage area. The second floor offices didn’t have any windows, but is also the spot that they decided IT would go.
One day I came in and the fluorescent lights didn’t turn on. There happened to be some random old lamp (I think from the 60’s or 70’s) in a storage closet so I grabbed it and put it on the intersection of 4 cubicles to light the area. There were only 6 IT people that worked in the area and as people were coming into work, no one mentioned the light. We all just did our work.
Halfway though the day, one of our senior devs asked “hey, so what’s with the light?”
I let him know the overhead lights didn’t come on when I got here this morning so I just grabbed a lamp.
5 of us discussing the lighting situation all vocally said “yea, this is much better, the fluorescent lights suck.” One person was quiet.
The overhead lights were “fixed” not too long after but people started opting for turning them off in favor of the lamp. This upset 1 of the 6 IT people working in the area.
It eventually became an HR issue, and the one person won; to the detriment of the other 5.
I ended up quitting about 2 weeks after that, not from the light issue; but I let them believe it was a large contributing factor in the exit interview.
I find myself wearing my sunnies indoors more often than not. On days I forget and grab my regular glasses, switching over to the tinted lenses is literal full body relief as the light input is reduced.
Hum… Yeah… That’d be me. The creature of the night. Not rave n’ disco night… More like, night night. Even during the day.
I like to sit in my desolate room. No lights. No music. Just anger.
You’ve killed everyone.
You’re away forever, but you’re feeling better?I had to spend six months in the ICU and I always had the lights off and no sound, not tv or music, no talking, all the staff would comment on it or ask if I wanted them to turn things on for the first few months but by the end they were always telling me how my room was so peaceful and they actually preferred it to other patients rooms. I just want peace!!
This is one of my great sensitivities. I can’t drive without sunglasses. My eyes will tear up and I’m unable to keep them open.
I’m with you. Do you get it at the movies too? IMAX is too much but if I go to a smaller screen theatre I’m usually ok.
No not in theaters unless it’s a really bright scene like an explosion.
Going outside to let my dogs out in the AM is genuinely painful! The dark to light is SHOCKING mentally and physically, I used polarized glasses for driving for the same reason you do. I find certain kinds of lights to be agitating even not just uncomfortable or painful
Everytime I read something about neurodivergent behavior I am astonished that another atypical thing I do is actually typical behaviour just not for neurotypical persons. (sry for my English - not a native speaker)
Your English is good, don’t worry! In fact I quite like the way you worded that. Isn’t it comforting to realize you’re not as alone as you had thought you were?
Then you should know it’s not good for you to sit in dark
Wouldn’t them being in the dark bolster the argument that they are bats?
And if they were lost bats, what would turning the lights on be meant to do?
I should get that diagnosis. 😐
I never denied I’m a bat, I’m simply not lost!
Somewhat related but does anyone else like driving in the dark? Like no other cars back roads in the middle of nowhere, the only light is from my instruments, radio, and headlights? Fucken peak especially out in the truly middle of nowhere with minimal light pollution with the cosmos visible.
I try, but then that fucking clown shows up…
Then you pull aside, roll down the window, and hear nothing but the buzzing and chirping of whatever nature’s out there. It’s just… zen.
I’ve always lived in pretty densely-populated areas, but a few years back I got to drive around eastern Arizona for a few hours at night. It was so dark and so empty, I felt like I was flying through space. I could’ve gone into a trance, had I not been somewhere unfamiliar (I had to keep some focus in this unfamiliar area with spotty cell reception, where I was alone, at night.)
Yes! I wish I could drive with out headlights but I know it’s too dangerous. I have incredibly good night vision even in my late 30s, I don’t need light at night why am I forced to use it??
The lights are also so others can see you, not so relevant when you’re really out away from civilization but there are many laws that require headlights to be on when windshield wipers are used
The Prius (and more historically Saab) used to have a near blackout mode which shut off interior lights and dash indicators, basically only leaving the indicator that shows your headlights are on. It was wonderful to drive with the blackout mode and just have your eyes perfectly adjusted to the light outside the cabin.
I drive a lot of retro cars and can say that while there usually wasn’t a dedicated mode you could turn down or off all of the interior lights. For example my 2001 Jeep Cherokee it’s just turning the light knob (same applies for the '91) as for my 2001 Toyota Tacoma it’s a matter of turning the dedicated knob that’s funnily enough the same spot as the one on the Cherokee.
I was carving out the exception because if you turn off all the interior lights, they’re just off. Saab at least had a system that monitored things and turned them back on if there were issues.
Jeep would sense the water temp rising out of control and day “lol u turned the lights off dude.”
That sounds really really nice.
Agreed, I love this part of long drives to out of the way destinations. Definitely better in older cars without obnoxious touch screens.
I enjoy some games that can simulate this too, like Elite Dangerous scooting around in the lander on the dark side of some barren planet deep in uninhabited space. Not the same as the real thing of course, but I still enjoy it.
Furthermore, other people turning OFF a light that’s in another room because that’s the precise amount of light I want where I’m at. Absolutely infuriating.
Yeah, why tf do people need to turn on my lights?
I’m not Vashta Nerada (I wish tho).
Yes! Please let me be part of the flesh devouring hive mind colony that likes books and lives in the dark.
It’s the prefect life.
90% of the time, the explanation is “I was doing a thing that didnt require external light source and didnt notice the sun went down.”
lol I don’t bother to explain I usually just say “nothing” I don’t owe anyone an explanation for why I want the lights off
yeah but even if i did notice the sun went down i prefer to stay in the dark as long as it’s not necessary to have light
Is there a eye-strain-related reason that the lights should be turned on in this circumstance? I find myself in this position a lot, not realizing the screen is way brighter than it needs to be for the brightness in the area.
I like to be in the dark and with screen at minimal brightness, all light is the enemy
I don’t believe the iPhone screen gets dark enough. I’ve had mine on its lowest possible setting since I got it, and I still sometimes want to make it darker. Thank goodness so many sites have “dark mode” nowadays.
Check under accessibility settings, there’s a mode called “Reduce White Point” that will make it even darker. It’s great. You can add a toggle for it in your control center so it’s easy to switch on/off
being the weird kid is not the cool flex yall think it is. yall are just awkward and we wish you would get better. i’m sorry that most neurotypical people are lame. if the weird kids would come out into the light and kick the lame folks into darkened obscurity, the world would be a better place.
That’s the annoying part. It’s not performative.
From my perspective, it’s like most people just mindlessly stumble through the world how they’ve been taught. They turn on lights not because they need it, but because it’s normal. They trust the label on the back of products over their own lived experience of using it.
I like the dark. I like the sun. I like being able to see. I see just fine in the dark. Excess artificial lights make it so I see less. This isn’t a me problem, this is you projecting
I’m not being weird or edgy. I’m not inviting you to comment, I’m being comfortable. I’m so tired of pretending, it’s fucking exhausting. I don’t need to come into the light, I want to be acceped as I am, not what you think I should be. If you ask genuinely wanting to understand, I’d explain that I like it. I’m so tired of explaining myself to people asking “why are you sitting in the dark?”
People: just trying to live their lives
This dickhead: “you should be ashamed for being different. Maybe if you were normal the world would be a better place”
You’re completely misreading this because you’re assuming our brains work the same as neuro-typical brains when it comes to status seeking. The vast majority of autistic people couldn’t care less about asserting a “cool flex”. The whole point of posts like this is just to say, “this thing that you see as different is because we’re different then you NTs and this is why”. Being different is only inherently cool if you’re an NT. We NEVER win that game, so we don’t play it.
In other words, this post is saying “don’t tread on me because I’m different than you. There’s a reason I do it this way.” Your response is essentially “you’re actually just like us, so you should just assimilate and learn to be like us. StOp bEinG So EDgy!”
Also, this IS “the weird kid coming out into the light”. You just don’t like that what that looks like isn’t what you expected or, apparently, wanted. No, the world wouldn’t be a better place if everyone just saw it the way you do. That’s an incredibly immature and self-centered perspective.
If it seems like I’m irked by your comment, it’s because I am. This is the exact BS NT people are always trying to cram down our throats without realizing how harmful it is to us. Just let people be who they are. We don’t need the entire human race to look and function in pure homogeneous order.
“The world only exists in the way I experience it, and everyone else is a ‘weird kid’.”
- You
Perhaps you should realise that it’s not all about people trying to be weird, sometimes it’s just ordinary life. Nothing needs fixing, no one needs to get better.
Maybe your comment was bait, but still needs saying.
It’s really not about being “the weird kid”, some of us just legitimately have light sensitivity. Me and all my siblings have it, cause my mom has it. My dad is the only one who likes bright lights and the rest of us prefer darker lighting. Well I do like the sun, so not always, but most indoor lighting feels way brighter than sunlight and feels strange on my eyes.
I just hiss as I retreat under the bed.
