"My Perfect Platform Would Be Telepathy" - Reimagining the Design of Social Media with Autistic Adults

Abstract

In this paper, we critically examine the design of mainstream social media platforms from the point of view of autistic experiences and perspectives, drawing inspiration from the neurodiversity movement, the notion of autism as neurodivergence, and the concept of autistic sociality. We conducted 12 participatory design sessions with 20 autistic adult collaborators. Through thematic analysis of qualitative data, we identify seven challenges our participants experienced when using social media, and a set of imagined features that represent their vision of how design could better support their social media use. We discuss how mainstream social media platforms are primarily designed to address neurotypical sensitivities, and fail autistic adults through lack of user control, inadequate mechanisms for expressing tone and intention, and an orientation towards phatic interactions. To close, we outline how autistic sociality can inspire the design of kinder and more considerate social media platforms.