Do you have or like any visual stims?

[ofwarren]

I used to have a wonderful kaleidoscope as a child. A big heavy duty one. I can't find a good one but today I bought a cheap one from the works and its actually quite good!

Other visual stims I like are watching hand movement ASMR videos, especially ones where they spin their fingers, and ones where they use light 'triggers'. I'm also partial to a good snow globe.

As a child, my favourite was to push on my eyelids as it would create lots of swirly, colourful patterns.

Anyone else have/had a visual stim?

I had a great kaleidoscope as a child and also used to push my eyelids to provoke patterns and I used to stare at a light/lamp, then turn it off and that would create visual patterns in the room, usually on the ceiling as I'd be lying in bed at the time.

As an adult, I find those visual disturbances discombobulating, to be avoided at all costs 😉

It's funny how we change isn't it
I used to love spinning and rolling fast but I'd be terrified now

I used to press my eyelids as a child to create those patterns you get.

Bloody miracle my eyes weren't affected!

What even is it? It definitely can't be good for us

It's funny how we change isn't it
I used to love spinning and rolling fast but I'd be terrified now

I loved funfairs, the faster the ride the better. But from about the age of 25, going on those rides really affected my balance. As a child, I used to play alone in the local fields and would roll downhill, and whizz down the hills on a sledge type thing. Going fast, spinning, turning - all great as a child. It'd be awful now though. I feel sick just thinking of it!! 😱

Bloody hell! I thought I was the only kid who pushed their eye balls in to get that pretty starburst effect. Although I do worry I’ve buggered up my eyes as I have trouble with my vision these days and can’t stand any visual weirdness anymore, it throws me into a panic but I loved doing it so much as a child.
I would also lay on the ground and stare at clouds for hours on end watching them make patterns, I still do that now.
I was also obsessed with my Spirograph. In fact I would love one of those now.

Oh and those ribbon things on sticks, I loved swirling those round and round.

I didn't know others pressed on their eyeballs. I used to do this all the way through story time in primary school.

Oh and those clear sticks with water and glitter in where you turn them up and down and watch the glitter fall.

@ofwarren

Are these the sort of asmr videos you mean? I think this woman is a really good creator

I love anything high adrenaline, always have. I suppose you could say riding is still my stim but that isn’t particularly odd from an nt perspective.
But I do really enjoy the type of thing most people would describe as making them dizzy. The odd occasion where I’ve had far too much to drink, or the handful of times I’ve had concussion I really like the sensation of lying in bed with the room spinning round me. Obviously they aren’t particularly healthy things to aim for but spinning of any variety gives me a similar, if milder pleasure.
As a child I also loved the sensation of falling from a height.

I still press my eyes, probably explains why I need such strong prescription glasses 😂
Lava lamps, my computer keyboard has an led rainbow effect that like cascades down the keys and I can stare at it for hours.

My stims are my pets (I could stare at them for hours), and the leaves on trees.

@glamourousindierockandroll
Yes, exactly that type of video!
Thanks for sharing, I've subscribed!
Her content is just what I love.

@ofwarren glad you like her channel! As soon as you said 'spinning fingers' I thought of her videos; i don't think i've seen anyone else doing what she is doing exclusively.

The visual lights are called phosphenes. I used to do it too. I used to have wallpaper as a child that if I stared at it long enough it would be like those magic eye things and the pattern would lift off the background. When I'm on a train in a tunnel if I focus a certain way I can't make it feel like I'm travelling in the opposite direction.
Sunsets, sunrise, the stars and the moon are my main sources of visual pleasure.

I can't believe I have so many eyeball friends.

I did have good eyesight up to a couple of years ago so it can't have been that bad.

👁

I used to do this!

I still get amazingly detailed geometric patterns if I close my eyes in the proper darkness.

Not sure if it's a stim, but I have the opposite of trypophobia (trypophilia I suppose you would call it). That's where you have a reaction to pictures of, e.g. clusters of small holes. Often people find them hard to look at. I really like them!

I used to press on my eyelids.

I also used to watch the floaters - I’m not sure how to describe it - I think it’s letting my eyes unfocus until I can see the stuff floating across my eyeballs. When I’m stressed it happens without me trying so I don’t like that anymore.

I sometimes focus on a near object, and a far away one and switch rapidly between them. And if I’m in the right zone, I can switch from one eye to another and back (without closing my eyes) which makes the object I’m looking at jump. I try not to do that or just do it by closing alternating eyes instead because I’m sure it’s not good.

watching leaves from my bed can be really calming too.

I wasn't diagnosed until I was an adult and I remember as a child being pulled up on "looking at the lights" and sort of being coached to stop. I have a half memory of flicking my eyes towards a light bulb or a lamp every 30 seconds or so. If I do it now it makes my eyes feel weird so I assume it was for that feeling.

Discovered flickering at side of eyes. At home with fingers. Other places I fan myself with a bit of paper, to the side, as if I am hot...

Clouds are good too.

Ds used to watch the washing machine, as did I.

I find some really beautiful visual things hurt.

I loved to sit on my little chair and watch the washing machine, especially if it had trainers in or a Teddy.

This thread is interesting, I've never considered whether I have visual stims but I do.

I love to watch leaves blowing on the wind and long grass swaying in the wind. I've actually kept an area of garden long for this purpose.

Also the waves coming in on the shore.

But I've never been able to see those magic eye posters everyone had in the 80s. Maybe that's part of my ND visual processing.

I love watching windmills we have them by the sea they generate power I can spend hours watching them
also like pp the wind through the trees or Long grass I never realised!

another thing I do is bright spotlights if I am somewhere that has them I wave my hand really fast across them and see the light through my fingers it just looks…. I not know how to explain