Help with a Survey for College English Class?

[Khonsuthoth1377]

Hello, I am doing a research paper looking at the benefits and challenges of adults with autism using social media, and I need to have a survey included. I personally have Asperger's syndrome and this is why I chose this topic, any help is appreciated!
The survey is obviously anonymous, but I may take some quotes from any responses.
1) How often do you use social media?
2) Why did you start using social media?
3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?
4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?
5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?
Any other comments are appreciated.

 

[Pats]

1. daily
2. probably first was on a dating site to try to meet someone to just go out with now and then but it didn't work because everyone was looking for a romantic relationship
3.conversations are more meaningful and you get to avoid small talk
4. not being able to read the tone and being taken wrong
5. much easier because I don't have to leave my home, get to avoid the senseless small talk, at my own convenience
I appreciate having your questions available. thank you for that.

 

[Illumination]

1) How often do you use social media?

I use "Social Media' quite a lot, quite often each day for possibly a few hours.​

2) Why did you start using social media?

I started truly engaging on social media in order to speak about my experience with being Autistic, and talk to fellow Autistic people.​

3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?

I'm not sure if I gained that many "benefits" but I have learned about new opinions, topics, and sharpened my skills with the written word.​

4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?

I have experienced being thrown into meltdowns, or generally sad moods due to specific interactions with toxic people on social media that had the intent of targeted harassment due to disagreements in personal beliefs.​

5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?

Communication on the Internet is significantly easier than face-to-face, or even on voice platforms like a simple phone, Skype, google voice, etc. - This is because it does not involve the verbal and non-verbal communication methods (speaking, hand gestures, etc) that cause us so much trouble in expression and understanding.
^ I can often go almost completely mute in public, in which I barely understand many people's non-verbal communication, but with the internet & social media.. The written word is much easier to understand, despite having learning difficulties in-regards to it myself.​

 

[Isadoorian]

1. Pretty much Daily

2. To find new people to talk to and stay connected w/ friends/family, and potentially find someone to be in a romantic relationship with

3. New people to talk to

4. Trying to find people who're able to hold conversation rather than use single word/half arsed replies e.g. "yeah", "lol yeah" etc.

5. Absolutely. I find it easier because then I'm able to express myself easier

 

[Fino]

1) How often do you use social media?
Several times a day.

2) Why did you start using social media?
Because so many people insisted I did that I gave up.

3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?
Knowledge, finding people like me, outlet for social interaction.

4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?
Confusion and anxiety caused by being unable to see the person's face, it being mostly useful just to see if someone is smiling or not. Smiling = good, not = bad, which I know isn't always true, but it's the simplest way that's helped me in most situations.

5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?
Any other comments are appreciated.
Yes. Anxiety from someone looking at me prevents thoughts from flowing. Verbal communication almost never reflects my thoughts, but written communication, especially since editing is an option, allows me to say exactly what I intend to say. It also prevents thing from slipping, most of the time, because you have more time to consider.

 

[TempeFan]

1) How often do you use social media?
Daily since I found this forum a month or two ago. Before then I used to let my husband deal with emails, while I just looked stuff up like weekly tv listings or health information or responded online when I had to deal with our utilities and other accounts.

2) Why did you start using social media?
My husband seemed to enjoy talking to the guys on his forum about his interests and we thought I might do the same, so I joined this forum in hopes of learning and discovering better ways to deal with, not obfuscate, my Autism issues and perhaps to be useful again by employing my aspy superpower to help people solve problems, like I used to do very successfully before I was retired.

3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?
I finally found met my husband online about two decades ago. Not much since then until now.

4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking? Mostly the same as IRL. There are bullies everywhere but though cyberbullies, emboldened by anonymity, attack more frequently it's just been verbal abuse directed at the truth when I stated an obvious fact some troll was spewing against, but nothing personal, which is less hurtful and easier to delete, report and ignore, than IRL physical, financial or socially devastating hate crimes. It's more difficult and time consuming, also much less satisfying, than good old fashioned conversation which isn't available anymore. Internet service is less accessible and more expensive everyday due to constant downgrades in service and increase in price.

5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?
Yes. I communicate 100% in words and 0% in body language. Online they can't see me, so they can only go by what I am actually saying not on mistaking false social cues. In person people spend all their time misjudging me on my looks and mannerisms, misinterpreting what I'm not saying with body langauge and ignoring what I am saying with words. I am often misquoted but if the conversation is on social media, it's harder for people to lie about what was or wasn't discussed, since it is recorded in black and white.

Any other comments are appreciated.

 

[Progster]

1) How often do you use social media? It varies - once a week to once a day.
2) Why did you start using social media? Means of communicating with family/friends abroad, access to private special interest groups, access to information.
3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites? Access to special interest groups and information, having a means of contacting people when I need to. I don't use if for socialising beyond the special interest group and rarely post anything on my profile, I like to keep my private life private.
4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking? People tagging me in photos or posting photos of me without my permission, people posting their (unwanted) stuff on my profile, spam notifications and posts, people taking it personally that I don't 'like' their posts or take more of an interest in their profile.
5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not? Yes, because it's easier to express myself in writing - I am much more articulate: I have time to think and respond and am not put on the spot. I can also choose what to respond to and what not to respond to: I have a choice and am not forced into social interaction by a person's physical presence. Also, as others have said, I'm not judged on my appearance, body language or tone, or lack of it.

 

[Mary Terry]

I'm NT so the survey does not apply to me but I would like to know if adding emojis or smiley faces or frowning faces to my posts would help people understand me, my tone or state of mind, and what I am trying to convey?

BTW, this is a good survey - you'd get A+ grade in my class!

 

[web]

1) How often do you use social media?
I go through phases, sometimes abstaining for weeks to months, sometimes engaging multiple times a day, most often every couple days.

2) Why did you start using social media?
At first to connect with friends who preferred it and became long-distance when we moved to different places. More recently to engage with interests that are specific, including Autism and kink.

3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?
Interaction with individuals I would not have otherwise been able to find or engage with IRL: a place to negotiate things that don’t need to be done in person prior to meeting.

4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?
The biggest is anxiety when posting about what people will think (did I go into too much detail? Am I doing this right?), which can be compounded by time and lack of response; people posting images of me without permission; others frustration with my slowness in responding

5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?
In some ways it’s easier, in that I can choose if and when to respond, and that I don’t have to go to a noisy, potentially overwhelming venue in order to interact with groups.
In some ways it’s harder, in that I often prefer to communicate non-verbally, and when I’m around a one or two people I am close to and understand the way I like to engage, our communication can be much richer, flow faster into surprising and involved interactions, and they can assist me in expressing what I am trying convey. Articulation can be an iterative, interactive process and we can arrive at collaborative ideas with more ease. Physical touch is also one of my grounding stims in social situations, and that is completely absent.
In general it depends on the nature of the social networking site itself, and the particular IRL situation I’m comparing it to.

 

[Monachopia]

1) How often do you use social media?
I look at it once or twice a day. I don't post though, except maybe once a fortnight on Instagram.

2) Why did you start using social media?
I started on MySpace back in 2003/2004, to keep in touch with people from other countries that I met on forums and to post things about myself.

3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?
In my teenage years when I joined MySpace I couldn't talk to people in person, so online was the only way I could make friends and 'talk'. It made me feel less lonely. I've stopped using social media that way in the last 10 years or so, now I just look at what people are up to and mostly use messenger if I need to get in touch with someone.

4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?
Just plain awkwardness of conversation and often frustration at the useless/pointless/mundane things people seem to feel the need to let everyone in the world know.

5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?

Yes and no.

Yes - If it's people I don't know very well such as work colleagues / group project people from university, I might say more there than in real life and be less inhibited with humour as I'd have the space to think of an answer and word it right without embarrassment or anxiety. I also have the choice of 'No response' if I feel too anxious to say something and it's ok as no one can see that.

No - With people I know better (family, close friends) it feels less personal than it should be and sometimes I feel pressure to HAVE to say something. The lack of facial expressions and articulation / body language also makes it harder to know what they mean and what is the right way to respond to things so that it's not misconstrued as conversations with those people might be more personal or sensitive.

 

[Bedlamite]

1) How often do you use social media?

Other than the internet – never

2) Why did you start using social media?

N/A
3) What benefits have you gained from using social networking sites?

N/A
4) What challenges have you experienced in using social networking?

N/A
5) Is using the internet to communicate easier than communicating face-to-face? Why or why not?

Yes, much easier! Although I’m a victim of Asperger's syndrome I don’t experience some of the same stereotypical traits that the neuro-typical world attributes to autistic people. Granted, while talking with someone face-to-face I cannot look into their eyes, however, on the contrary I can pick up on even the most subtle of body language and facial expressions. Also, I’m highly intuitive, so speaking to someone face-to-face can be disturbing because I can “sense” what is on their mind – i.e. if what I am saying or talking about is “getting through”, or if they want to continue the conversation or cut it short. In addition, most every conversation I get into with another person face-to-face or in a group, someone will eventually interrupt me while I’m talking or just completely ignore what I am saying and begin to “talk over” me as if I wasn’t even present. At that point my mine will go blank.​