Autism Is Caused By Modern Society

Kids used to play on the streets Together with the rest of the neighbourhood and every now and again a car came by and we got out of the way.. there was always a quiet, stange one, who didn't talk much, but the always had the chatty, imaginative, buzzy friend, who liked to hear his own voice, who would hang out with him and they got on with it, they learned the social rules and adapted.....

Nowadays, you can't let kids play on the street. too many cars, people living in flats, eveyone scared of the new type of bogieman next door or at school.

The chatty, imaginative, buzzy friend is at home and frustrated and lonley and on ritalin.
The quiet, introspective nerdy loner is at home in his own particular Reality.
How he/she deals with other peoples reality dictates how "Autistic" he/she will be classified as.

Its easy now, with PC's. ipods, etc to keep kids indoors,
but the more obsessed one is with an Object, the less likley one is to want to interract with People.
More and more kids are growing up with the Trauma of digitaly induced social isolation.
Media-enhanced emotonal detatchment, a dominant feature of our modern Society.
Sooner or later they isolate themselves in a prison of rules and Boundarys.

PERFECTLY happy within,
ABOLUTLEY distressed if the rules are broken or boundarys crossed.

The human mind is evolving, It is adapting to This Brave New World.

This is my Opinion.



I acknowledge the equality of all and honor the sacredness of all your Opinions.

Pull the plug and make'em go out and play. We, as parents, dictate how our children are raised. To a certain extent, we help decide their destiny. Pull the plug and let them discover the world right outside the door.

reply to post by Theflyingweldsman


Thankyou for this post. I to do have a recently "Special child". He is really into video games electronics and movies.

You bring some wisdom with what may be wrong with my son.

I really think for the good of my own son I should accidentally brake the XBOX accidentally brake the TV, accidentally brake the DS.

You got me thinking that humans are supposed to be outside doing whatever. Not sitting being mentally stimulated by a virtual reality entertainment machine.

My god what have I done to my son.

I am going to unplug him from electronics.

reply to post by ManOfHart


at least play the x-box with him, or take him out and be his buzzy, talkative, imaginitave friend and teacher. it can't hurt. You might even beat the xbox. Without a hammer

Pump the brakes a bit.

To some degree I follow you that Autism is a product of the times. But perhaps it has more to do with what goes into the child rather than the interaction the child has in the real world.

And by that I mean vaccines and diet. I've long suspected that cancer has always been present (read somewhere that the earliest case was 1500 B,C.) but I think this is amplified by what we are feeding ourselves.

This paired with the impossible to keep up with influx of information continually flooding our psyche and the almost competitive nature to know before everyone else the 'news' can also play a part. I am fantastic at multitasking but even as someone growing up with the technology I can find it challenging to keep up constantly.

Yes, it's not always an available/desirable option but children should interact with others as much as possible to gain a grip on what life really consists of. It's good to unplug, or at least limit exposure to technology of the age - but a cutoff completely only limits the child in it's familiarity with that facet of modern culture.

Ex. my son will not have a cellphone until he is of driving age, he is not allowed to play on the gaming systems unless I am playing with him or supervising and he can only watch television after he has completed homework/practice and not before school.

What it comes down to I guess is parents asserting themselves instead of letting technology babysit and/or raise their children. However, I do not think a lack of assertive parenting is causing Autism as a whole.

Just my $.02

reply to post by SaintLuck

Just my $.02

It was worth a lot more than that.

Of course, we should try to keep every thing in balance,

but what with families falling apart and Touchscreen phones becoming ubiquitous,
(I don't have a touchscreen phone, oxymoronic as that may sound)

It is inevitable, though.
A consequence of our evolution.
We have to let our children evolve.

One of my son's only commuication method outside school is a text chat on kongregate, where he helps kids with advice about Bloons TD5.

A thought just occurred to me
Consider your own childhood, through all the years and memories
How many autistic children did you know? Even with the levels of diagnosis we have today, thinking back, how many kids you knew had autistic characteristics ?

I can think of one for sure with another one or 2 possibles

On my street of 20 houses now there's 3 I know of
In the last 8 years ( sons age from 6-14 ) he's had 4 friends (that I can remember) that have had openly visible autism

odd ?

reply to post by Theflyingweldsman


i think the percieved increase in ASD has its roots in modern society..

i've worked with ASD teens for about ten years, living with them, working therapeutically, teaching etc in an alternative/left field environment (for a bit of background on me).

Now, i feel autism has always existed - but in the past, society was very different ofc. most people knew pretty much where their life was headed - be that expecting to do the same that mum or dad did - working in the local factory, tilling the land and so forth, many autistic people of the past would have adapted well to this.
IMO aspergics in times past would have been in monasteries illuminating manuscripts for example, or carving stone, mending clocks and so forth in calm, focussed and specialised environments where the sense of place and purpose would have had a strong therapeutic effect.

having clear and understandable expectations for what is expected in your life gives phenomenal security to those with ASD - they can then align themselves with said expectations: learn the skills, routines, conventions and so forth - therby reducing their "trauma" at life and functioning in a way that is more in line with those around them.
i think it's fairly clear that diet was far better before the heavy industrialisation of food/agriculture etc and in my experience of improving diet for ASD folk (proper, balanced nutrition, organics etc) has a significant effect too.

when these factors are removed, as is the case for a great many people today, and you mix in a modern sedentary life style and an information age that ASD folk have difficulty dealing with due to the sheer overload of conflicting info and isolating tech like video games and tv, it's no surprise it's on the rise.

modern society is a major factor in autism - SnF OP

ManOfHart, don't break you sons stuff, your son is probably smart enough to understand things don't just break all of a sudden and he will never truly trust you ever again. Instead, play them with him, buy him kits that move and do things, take him to the park and ride bikes with him. Give him an atmosphere of openness and never make him feel strange and misunderstood!

If all electronics were to break, people who have autism or are on the autistic spectrum will just bury them selves in books, daydreaming, sleeping all day long or just go plain old mad!

I agree with the OP.

I will share one of my theories with you. It is simply a theory, although it is something I truly believe in.

Human psychology is something truly fascinating. I truly believe in the power of one´s mind and the connection between one´s body and mind.

Body and mind are both affecting eachother in unimaginable ways. Mental part shapes the physical, although physical part also shapes mental part. When we are born, we are give certain basis for our genes, although I believe up to some point all of these genes can change. Our beliefs, values and social connections shape our minds, while they also shape our physical parts and by that our children inherit a bit different genetics than we inherited from our parents. We have either evolved or in more negative lifestyle moved in the opposite direction. There are studies which have shown that the brain changes during life. Recently there was a study which concluded that even sleep deprivation might alter our genes.

Now, imagine what the life of people was before psychology even existed, for example 400 years ago. It was a system of "boxes". It was rare, if even impossible to rise up from poverty. Where you were born, you had to live for the rest of your life. People had no choice, but the accept it. During that period, there was not many autistic people nor there was even a word for stress. It is hard to understand, but for such people being in stress was simply out of their mind. They simply worked, worked and worked without thinking about life or where they want to get to, they simply lived without overthinking everything. Even a word like searching for one´s path basically nonexisted. (soul search, pursuit for happiness however you would call it).

Everything changed when the society evolved. Countries and structures were founded. Now everybody had the chance to do whatever they wanted to do. Anybody could make a company. If you had a bad job, you felt worse, as you had the chance to become something more, something better, more powerful.

When the technology came there were even more options for people. They had more and more different opportunities and different things to do. X-generation was was living in the American Dream. It was a world full of opportunities. Y-Generation already got even more opportinities with all television, movie industry, pop-music. And the Z-generation has computers, which basically give you endless opportunities. ADHD has increased a lot recently and it is all because of endless opportunities. You have the chance to do anything and that is what creates a restless mind.

The last two paragraphs were probably not the best explanations. I am becoming tired, 2 AM here Although the main point is. I believe that at first the amount of different mental disorders was minimal, because of the overall structure of the world. People just accepted their roles without questioning and stayed calm. Although when the world developed, people got more rights, more options, the amount of mental disorders skyrocketed. It was because people started to think too much on what could be and that altered the genes somehow, which inherited to their children and their children had already dispositions and with so many choice, these came out and after that it is the current life.

Imagine how hard it would to be a kid nowadays. You can simply do anything. No wonder there is all this ADHD, when instead of doing something that needs discipline, the kids can do whatever they want what is interesting, like playing video games, watching TV, facebook. There is so much opportunities and that creates restlessness.

I would no be surprised if nearly 90% of kids born in the end of this decade or after that will have some kind of mental disorders.

Of course there might be also other reasons for example too much unnatural foods and chemicals, although I believe one of the reasons is also overthinking and having too much opportunites at once. It is a huge difference if you do something when you have nothing else to do or you have to do something where you basically endless other things to do, which are much more interesting for you.

reply to post by skalla

Elequently explained.

I was reading about Vitamin B12 injections having a positive effect on the social and cognitive skills in Autistic kids.

Years ago, people had chickens and ate more eggs, fresh fish etc.

Now everyone is freaked out about salmonella and cholesterol and a good daily source of bio-available B12 is missing from the modern diet.

reply to post by Cabin

i have autism. im proud of it. atleast i can do stuff that others cant.

reply to post by 2Unknown

My son has Autism and I wouldn't have him any other way.

He's Perfectly and Completely George. Which is half me.

Thank you for commenting

Originally posted by Neocrusader
A thought just occurred to me
Consider your own childhood, through all the years and memories
How many autistic children did you know? Even with the levels of diagnosis we have today, thinking back, how many kids you knew had autistic characteristics ?
I can think of one for sure with another one or 2 possibles
On my street of 20 houses now there's 3 I know of
In the last 8 years ( sons age from 6-14 ) he's had 4 friends (that I can remember) that have had openly visible autism odd ?

I have heard almost exactly the same thing, talking to the older special school Nursery Assistants.

There is no more social neighbourhood to fall back on.

Now we rely on classroom assistants and extra teachers.If we're lucky.

I agree with OP.

I have witnessed autism and noticed how it is related to (in some cases) lack of parenting.

Televisions and computers have become the new authority figure to children, no face to face, yes and no, right or wrongs.

Parents don't even punish their children anymore for acting out or wrong-doings, instead children seem to be rewarded for their bad behaviors.

I know of multiple families who use "time in's" instead of the traditional "time out".
A time-in is basically making the child sit at a table and draw, or play with something, away from the initial problem. Yes, they are preoccupied at the table but, do they really learn right from wrong out if it?? NO. It's distraction, and before you know it the kid is right back doing it again because they weren't corrected to begin with.

In my opinion, autism stems from ignorant parenting.

reply to post by RainofStars

I understand where you are coming from

But understand,

Underneath every bad parent is a good parent who got messed up by life.

There are no excuses or jugements, every life is unique.

I just think that it's hard these days to focus a child's attention on anything.

Maybe that's what this " time in " is all about.

I think that sends the wrong message. Misbehave and you have to draw for ten minutes.

That used to be a reward for good behaviour!

Talk about future planning, preparing people early for National Arts funding cuts....

Gotta hand it to the people feeding the parents, who really only want the best for their children.

Modern western life demands a lot from parents and schools are failing miseably to cope.

Regressive Autism is due mostly to MMR and DPT, but some other vaccines have also been implicated. These children are born healthy and then regress after their triple jab vaccine.

Whereas natural Autism can come about when two computer programmers have children, or two mathematicians for example. These people are born like this, they can be incredibly intelligent. For example, these types of Autistic children are more likely to be born around such areas as Silicon Valley.