[jenders]

What people are missing in this debate is that the need to be “contrarian” for some people stems from correction OCD. It’s not that your friend is “trying to be different” or “craves attention”—-it’s that they have a compulsive tic like biting their fingernails. Shaming them doesn’t fix their underlying disorder, it just makes you a bad friend to this person. Accept that they have this limitation (in your eyes) and learn to ignore it the same way you would with somebody living with Tourettes syndrome.

[kstrauser]

Nah. A friend with OCD isn’t constantly telling me I’m wrong about everything I say. Being around active contrarians (code phrases: “as the devil’s advocate”, or “yes, but actually…”) is freaking exhausting. It imposes a lot of psychic weight. A true friend will tell you your wrong when you’re being wring, but isn’t going to feel the need to lecture you about the difference between teal and cyan if you make a slip of the tongue about a random car’s color.

It’s not my job in life to be everyone’s personal therapist, for free, at the expense of my own sanity. I’d rather hang around with people who don’t make me wince and brace for their “correction” every time we talk.

[neaden]

I don't think it's really good advice to just assume people have OCD. Like sure, if a friend tells me they do I will believe them but it's not going to be something I'm just going to assume is true and I don't think that is a very kind approach in the long run.

[jenders]

I didn’t say all contrarians have correction OCD, I said “some”