Eye contact (Early Access)

Stacy Walker

I'm definitely uncomfortable with eye contact, and I HATE it when people do NOT look away from me. Ugh! I am usually looking down and right when I'm listening intently. I'll be staring straight ahead into the void, or at another distraction in the environment when I'm daydreaming.

Heather Uerlings

I concentrate and listen so much better when I’m off camera otherwise I spend the whole time distracted and trying to make sure my face is responding correctly. It’s exhausting.

Kat Verville

I’ve noticed since I’ve been working from home 2.5 yrs now and have about 4-8 Zoom meetings a day (in which most I’m leading) so I’m doing most of the talking. When I am talking I can’t look at the camera or screen and I’m looking down and fidget a lot. But when I’m not talking it’s like I’m a statue looking forward and hyper aware of the camera on me and I zone out.

I am feeling so SEEN right now. All this, all of this is me. I try to maintain eye contact, but so often find myself thinking about keeping eye contact to such a degree I can't process what the conversation partner is saying.

Hey! Love your stuff :) just a quick note though, it’s whether not wether <3

Another great comic topic! I love that you included "Accidental staring" - this happens to me all the time :) I personally struggled with looking people in the eyes while I talked until I started my ADHD meds.

Emma

Oh this is brilliant! So useful to pass along to people who struggle with my eye contact. The other thing I've been running into issues with is when I can't hear what someone is saying because there's too much background noise, I break eye-contact and move my ear to be closer to the person speaking. People often seem to be mad or uncomfortable when I do that and it's hard to explain that "I'm just trying to hear you better!"

ADHD Alien

Ahh I haven't thought of this before! I kind of assumed we are all just looking at the screen -> looking at people, so it's normal that we are "looking away". Maybe I should be looking at the camera? (If I manage to not look out of the window, at all..)

ADHD Alien

Oh that's interesting! Really love having that insight, for me on the ADHD side it's more like I just can't do two things at the same time, that is concentrating on where I'm looking and trying to work that memory!

Daniela

This! So much! I can either look someone in the eye or concentrate on what they are saying. Sometimes nice glasses or even an intricate eye make-up can help to simulate eye contact, but when I need to talk and think, I usually have to look somewhere else. (But for Video-Meetings I learned to look directly into the camera, especially if I have something important to say, must be somewhat intimidating to be directly looked at. Most people look at the videos of the other participants, thus most of the times it feels like they are looking away. Looking directly at the camera is just like staring at them, even if I don't. Best way of looking away. ;))

Inahc

Yeah, from the autism side, eye contact felt *really* intimate when I was younger. I had no trouble making eye contact with people I wanted to make out with 🤣