Why is there a lack of young teens on this forum

[ZebraAutismo]

A thing young people are more drawn to Social Media like FB groups and stuff.

 

[Graphin]

There were times with quite a lot of active teens, but they just disappeared I guess? Members come and go, never saw so few as in the last months though, I believe there were multiple active teens all the times I was here before. Yes, I was a minor up until very recently.
You'll find the most of them based on either always looking at current birthdays or going on a teens profile and looking through all their followers stuff. Not that they will be active.

 

[Bolletje]

Over the years I’ve seen a lot of teens on these forums, but they don’t tend to stick around as much as the older members. A lot of the younger members try to set up discord channels or try to get people to join their discord channel. Who knows, maybe that’s where our younger crowd is hanging around these days.

 

[Graphin]

Yeah, about those discord stuff, I didn't really see any place actually work well.

 

[Misery]

Discord unfortunately has issues of it's own. Not the most reliable place, I can say that much. People that use it tend to be very erratic, and the individual servers can be a bit of a jumble, and it's hard to keep track of conversations.

Not to mention a decent chance of getting trolls there. It has some purpose but not something I'd suggest to most users.

 

[Streetwise]

As long as you pick subject you are completely obsessed with and I mean you should be completely obsessed with it you will be alright I was a member of Facebook group but I didn't basically worship the person and if you don't want to do that you're not particularly liked, it's a good idea to tell one of the admins that you're autistic by private message and I pray you're alright I mean that because I think God is not enough to me strangely somebody that I just tried to avoid sent me a post this morning but for some reason it's completely disappeared and she sent it three times but I never managed to actually read it I'm glad I can't be bothered, neurotypicals think that everything they say is important and nothing you say is important if you are autistic, so basically give a 2 word answer no more than that.

 

[Solphire]

I do hope you find others around your age that can relate to you Matthew! I think perhaps one reason there might be less teens here is because there are so so many programs for children and teens with autism. At least in my area. I know of one teen social group that meets twice a month nearme. If I was your age again I would definitely look into finding one of those.

Whereas as an adult on the spectrum, it is increasingly difficult to locate others who share your awesome brain. This forum is especially useful for us. It decreases isolation and frustration, seeing others battle your same struggles as an adult. As someone else said, we don't outgrow our autism, and yet the world seems to not understand that.

Depression... yes. I was misdiagnosed around your age, very common for females as they didn't realize girls were autistic at that time (the fools!), and i vividly recall the depression as a teen. The social injustice of the world, the suffering, and of course the overwhelming confusion that was in every part of my life.... that definitely manifested as depression for me.

I would like to offer you some hope. In my case it did get better. I studied society and social behaviors as if I were getting a degree in anthropology. I developed strategies to push myself beyond my limits. Now, that being said, I'm a maturing lady now, and I am STILL confused by this world, it is still alien to me. However, my acceptance of this along with the drive to 'go out' and 'do the stuff' anyways helps me. I am no longer a depressed person and am able to find little joys and victories everywhere. I sincerely hope you find the help that is right for you. You do have a place and purpose in this world Matthew.

<3

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I think it's good that there's not a lot of teens on this site. Teens really should have their own website, and place to talk to each other, because there's some really disturbing posts.

And you know with a primarily adult site, there is probably more than one person on here who is court mandated (sex offenders) not to even be around people under 18.

 

[HoodieAnt]

I just turned 16 today. (Actually at 8:22PM )
But mentally, I'm 7 and 40 years old at the same time. I always got along better with adults than my age group. That's why I'm here. But I'd be curious about a teenager autie site too.

 

[ChocolateCherry]

^ Happy Birthday!

I’m around the same age as you, and I relate a lot to what you said. This is one of the only ways I can talk to people, so I’m glad to have found this site too.

 

[Matthew Behnke]

I think it's good that there's not a lot of teens on this site. Teens really should have their own website, and place to talk to each other, because there's some really disturbing posts.

And you know with a primarily adult site, there is probably more than one person on here who is court mandated (sex offenders) not to even be around people under 18.

I know, but at the same time, a lot of teens not being on this site means people with late-diagnosis or only grew up to adulthood can meet each other, and I feel that is kind of isolating, because I still think there are a lot of adults here who could express positive experiences in life to younger people and perhaps inspire them, and perhaps teens do the same.

 

[Matthew Behnke]

I'm an adult but I suggest if you want to meet more teens you should try Discord. Discord tends to draw a younger crowd and there are a lot of autism Discord servers. You can search for Discord servers here:
DISBOARD | Public Discord Server List

Good advice but I hope its not just memes and kids talking about games and stuff, otherwise I would be quite discouraged by the conversations if they are not actually about life in general.

 

[Streetwise]

I know, but at the same time, a lot of teens not being on this site means people with late-diagnosis or only grew up to adulthood can meet each other, and I feel that is kind of isolating, because I still think there are a lot of adults here who could express positive experiences in life to younger people and perhaps inspire them, and perhaps teens do the same.

I think you might have perceived that a lot of what you call adults don’t have a lot of positive experiences, yes you want them but we don’t have a lot of them. you are part of the younger section! of a generation that is getting help in certain ways and to a certain degree, I am personally from a generation not got no help,So what we actually got was punishment ,this is where not a lot of positive experience starts for instance there should be autistic people (members )in Germany in their 90s or should be centenarians but they were gassed (Not the we are going to do something nice for you type of gassing (then driving and herding you into a truck and gassing you that way )but the sticking a hose down your throat and openly gassing you type of gassing )by the Nazis,That is some of the experiences mine and generations before me had or we were forcibly sterilized by eugenicists!you can listen to us talking about something that could do irreparable damage if we don’t discuss it !or you could not talk to us at all!The choice is yours,By all means look for other forums,But remember there is a contingent in society who think we should not exist they are represented by an organization called autism speaks who say they support autistic people but have done everything they can to try and make sure we don’t exist, so if you go to another Forum Remember it will probably be administered by Neuro typical’s and some autistic people And some of the Neurotypicals believe in us not existing ,You are still part of a generation where that has some weight, if you want to set up a forum yourself go ahead do it ,I personally don’t have the energy to get up.

 

[Nitro]

I have noticed a little weird trend on this site, a lot of users I meet are usually people who are older and have had autism, young adults, but I don't really see a lot of people who are under 18, I saw two users who were under 18 but of course I never get to meet them or I don't see them in threads where we discuss stuff, overall, I don't think I have seen anyone under my age here nor anyone below 18 either, some people have been surprised I am 14 on this forum when I tell them my age, I still don't really mind older users, I feel like they give good insight into things and are helpful, plus I know people struggle with not being able to be diagnosed at a young age or at childhood.

I am really glad to have found this site because a lot of adults here don't really know people who have had autism for a lifetime and it must be frustrating for them, and they have told me the struggles of being diagnosed late.

If there are any people below 18, I would curiously like to know, because it seems like a rarity to meet them, I have only seen a few but I don't want to name them, but I have seen this as a notorious demographic trend on this forum.

While it is awesome that you yourself are concerned about your condition, I feel that many your age are already struggling with being a teenager let alone wanting to open up about their own condition.
Interests change quickly at any age, but possible would be more pronounced at your age.
That alone could account for why many younger members don't stick around.

 

[Butterfly88]

Good advice but I hope its not just memes and kids talking about games and stuff, otherwise I would be quite discouraged by the conversations if they are not actually about life in general.

Discord servers are all run by individuals so each server varies. You could always join some and see what you think. Though in general, it seems to be lighter conversations.

 

[Dadamen]

Hello, I'm 16, yes, as somebody said here, we are pretty occupied with school, but now I have summer holiday and no friends to spend it with, so I hang there,