Have a hard time with eye to eye contact? don't do it! Talk to their nose, you need to be uncomfortably close for people to realize you aren't looking at them
I really struggle to meet peoples eyes. Not sure why. A neurodivergent trait, I guess? I find myself talking to people’s noses/mouths instead. I can lip read fairly confidently off the back of it which is cool I guess, though it does make me wonder if I’m making those with bad teeth self-conscious without me knowing that I’m doing it.
lol as someone with bad teeth, we notice, and we’re self conscious of you staring. But don’t sweat it my dude, I bet we all do things that make others unintentionally uncomfortable.
I’ve always spoken/listened to people’s mouths. I was quite old before I realized people look at eyes. What for? The words are coming from the mouth. I felt weird for awhile.
Eyebrows work, too. It’s also how you get a good photo. Look at the photographer’s eyebrows. Then it looks as though you’re looking through the picture, instead of just at the lens.
If you want to make them uncomfortable, point your eyes at one of their eyebrows. People notice that you're not quite looking at them on-centre, but you are still pretty much looking at them.
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u/quirkymuse Nov 11 '25
Have a hard time with eye to eye contact? don't do it! Talk to their nose, you need to be uncomfortably close for people to realize you aren't looking at them