“In Real Life, Everything Feels so Different”: Autistic, Embodied Perspectives on Online Sociality

Background: Autistic adults often report heightened bodily vulnerability in face-to-face interactions, shaped by factors such as social expectations and sensory demands. With the increasing centrality of online communication, it is important to understand how digital environments can shape embodied experiences and social participation for different autistic people. Methods: This qualitative study used phenomenological interviews with 11 autistic adults living in North America and Europe. We interviewed participants, all of whom were habituated users of online spaces, in their preferred modality (text, audio, or video). Thematic analysis, informed by phenomenological attention to embodiment, identified how participants described bodily attention, agency, and connection across online and offline settings. Results: Participants consistently reported offline interactions requiring extensive bodily monitoring, associated with feelings of scrutiny and exhaustion. Online environments, in contrast, often afforded greater bodily ease, enabling shifts in attention away from self-monitoring toward communication. Participants emphasized novel forms of agency afforded in certain online contexts, helpful in fostering a sense of control. They furthermore described online communication as variably limiting or enriching, but frequently as supporting authentic and comfortable forms of self-expression and connection. Discussion: The findings suggest that online spaces can provide distinctive forms of embodied relief and inclusion for some autistic adults, challenging assumptions that in-person interaction is inherently preferable or superior for everyone. Consideration of autistic embodiment can be crucial for understanding accessible, inclusive platforms and for rethinking normative expectations of communication in both online and offline settings.