Eye contact.

[WildCat]

Nope. Only with people whom I trust and that certain occasional stranger or acquaintance, but for the most part it's deathly uncomfortable. I can do it longer now then I could in my youth, but for as long as I'm breathing that feeling of intrusion is never going to disappear.

I've heard that prolonged eye contact is creepy anyways, it's something of a display of dominance or some other questionable personality trait...but don't quote me on that, feel free to do some research and find out for yourself. Tinted lenses or some kind of "shield" for the eyes might help to ease the overload, or focusing on a certain point instead of the eyes. Just a guess here. If it's a problem, there's probably a solution out there for those who struggle with it.

 

[ksheehan88]

I had a rather unpleasant issue this morning with eye contact.

My 3 year old had a paediatrician appointment related to his assessment and I found it extremely difficult to keep looking at the Dr. I just kept looking at my son instead. She made me feel really, really uncomfortable, I don't know if it was because she had particularly big, wide eyes.

 

[Ylva]

The sensory issues perspective: eyes shine and glitter and do all sorts of disgusting stuff, they jot around even when fixed, it's exhausting to look at.

The we're-actually-pretty-social-beings perspective: so making intense eye contact is a threat and a challenge in every species, even this one, and pretending it's friendly in any but a handful of cases is just plain lying.

 

[Nathan Dines]

`Eyes are windows to one`s soul`

That's the best way to explain it for me, it's like you can see them, into their soul! It's very personal to me and I can only have eye contact with the people that I love and care about. I find if someone I don't know helps me, I can look them in the eye and thank them as to show seriousness. Same goes for when I am angry, I will stare straight into/through their eye's. But once again as many others find, when I'm deep in thought I do not make eye contact. Only when I'm serious can I do it. I am trying though, I try to look between their eye's every now and then to show I am listening.

 

[fairy_girl]

I've always hated looking anywhere at someone. I tend to close my eyes or talk and turn my head away from them. I did try looking at people but it honestly drained my energy far too much so I ended up falling asleep afterwards. No amount of caffeine would wake me up.

The only way I can look someone in the eye is if they piss me off and then it's a very long staring contest till they get extremely uncomfortable and stop looking at me.

 

[Cinnamon115]

I can look my family and people I know well in the eye. But strangers? Crowds of people? It feels like I just got stabbed with sewing needle in the eye. I remember being so upset when, during high school speech class, I was expected to look at the crowd of people listening to me in the eye. It hurt and I couldn't do it. I got points off and feedback every time that I need to look people in the eye. It bothered me so much that I got points off for something that pained me to do. I also remember my parents once mentioning to a friend that my younger brother used to have the same problem I do with looking people in the eye, but that they trained him to always do it. I wonder how it feels for him and if it was painful to go through something like that.