3 ms·
This is something I've always struggled with. I grew up in a part of the world where you just don't make eye contact. Ever. Spent many years in and around colle
by cydonian_monk 7y ago
This is something I've always struggled with. I grew up in a part of the world where you just don't make eye contact. Ever. Spent many years in and around colleges where folks were the opposite - very heavy on eye contact. And so I adapted. Moved back home after college and suddenly I was "too creepy" for everyone, even my family.
Feels like much less of an issue since I moved to Texas, where folks in the smaller towns are far more on the German side of things anyway, and folks in the cities are the usual everything all at once. Only really noticeable whenever I go back home to visit. I guess now I'll always be a bit too alien for them.
- wolco 7y agoWhere is home for you?
- cydonian_monk 7y agoWest Virginia, specifically Charleston. The general lack of eye contact was more pronounced in remote groups and less prevalent in Charleston proper, and I really never noticed until I spent time up in Morgantown at the university. Seems far more common in the deeper southern coal fields and almost non-existent in the north. Presumably this has to do with immigration waves and when parts of the state were settled (or when the industrial owners brought in large numbers scab labor), but I've never seen a study on it.