Eye contact

Eye contact can be a complex and nuanced form of communication, known to cause discomfort for some people. In a discussion on the Lex Fridman Podcast, Whitney Cummings and Lex Fridman talk about their struggles with making eye contact. Whitney mentions that she had to consciously work on it due to a lack of eye contact during her childhood, while Lex notes that eye contact makes him uncomfortable because it feels like being judged 1 .

Additionally, Karl Deisseroth suggests that for some, especially those on the autism spectrum, eye contact can be overwhelming due to the rich visual information it entails. This can lead to a preference to avoid eye contact to reduce cognitive overload 2 .