im have adhd

honestly I 100% get it!! and it’s okay that sometimes those noises get to you :) I’ve gone through something similar for a long time with one of my classmates, who has asperger’s, and his stims are the ones that bother me the most. I feel really bad about it because I know he’s entertaining himself, but I can’t help the rage that I feel about it ://////

i agree :)

you know, it’s a really interesting thing, and I’m definitely no expert here. my personal opinion is that neurotypicals do fidget in ways that can be classified as stimming, but what’s going on in their brain with regards to the action is different.

for example, say you have a neurotypical 14-year-old boy who can’t stop tapping his pen on his desk. I’d say this is a manifestation of nervous energy, which a lot of regular teenagers have to some extent. 

for someone with adhd like myself (and maybe autism, but I don’t know because I’m not autistic), a lot of times an action like pen-tapping is more a combination of nervous energy and the sound it makes, and maybe even how it feels hitting the table. it’s a repetitive motion that can be soothing, either in the repetition itself or because of the sensory feedback (sound/feel) you get from it. the neurotypical boy and the person with adhd are doing the same thing, but it might be that it’s caused by different needs in the body. this is why I’d say that for a neurodivergent person, pen-tapping can be a stim, whereas for a neurotypical person it’s mindless fidgeting.

this is all theoretical, though, because I am not a neurotypical person and I don’t know how it feels to be one. I don’t mean to cause any trouble or arguments, especially over my personal definition of a sometimes-vague term like “stimming.”

TL;DR: yes, I think neurotypicals do “stim” sometimes, but it might not be for the same reasons as NDs do.

yeah sure! so I’m no expert, but for me, stimming (short for “stimulating”) is like a way to calm or entertain yourself in boring/exciting/worrying situations.

stimming is any kind of enjoyable repetitive motion (observed in those with adhd and autism) and it seems like it can really be anything, so here’s a few examples:

-tapping the table

-fiddling with buttons, jewelry, hair, clothing, etc

-flapping hands (especially when excited! this is a big one for my autistic pals)

-clicking or otherwise playing with a pen/pencil or other small item

-rubbing something you like the texture of

-making a rhythmic sound with your body, your voice, or an object

-etc

it probably doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if you’re not a stimmer yourself, but if you have any little habits like these, it’s a stim!

you also see people reblogging or posting those “oddly satisfying” videos with tags or captions about stimming, and that really just means that it’s a visual or auditory stim for some people. by the way, some stims will not seem relaxing to you and may even be a little bit upsetting and that’s okay!!! everyone stims differently so don’t worry if you don’t like a stim that someone else does :)

hope this helps!

edit: I found this page on stimming (specifically in connection with autism), which is super useful! I would check this out if you have any other questions about stims!

I think so!! I chew gum all the time, mostly to avoid my main stim which is eating lol

get a stim necklace b!!

are they really tho

ok i relate also some stim videos just stress me the fuck out idk why