Sometimes hanging with friends is you're both in the same place doing separate things. You don't need to be constantly talking or otherwise interacting.
I had someone tell me once that if I was doing that then the person I was hanging out with wasn't really my friend and I'd like to just tell that person in particular to absolutely get fucked, I reject your gatekeepy bullshit.
@abstractcode I remember people dunking on Bill Gates because he and Melinda apparently sat together and read books in cafes.
There were plenty of legit reasons to dunk on Bill Gates, but this seemed like the only odd one.
@abstractcode absolutely!
Among autistic people this is usually called parallel play:
https://actuallyautistic.wiki/wiki/Parallel_play
It’s an horrific judgment to read anything into two people being together and not interacting.
And the article about parallel play chilled me. I know this isn’t what was meant.
Early in therapeutic work on myself, I was led to write stories about my sub-personalities. I wrote one about “Tim” playing football on his own while his “friends” played a game the other side of a tall hedge. And the need to coincide moves from his game with shouts and cheers from the other.🥲🥲🥲
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