Eye contact when passing strangers

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I don't think it's a Norwegian thing. I've encountered the same thing in the rural US. People even wave to other drivers as they pass! It's bizarre and awful!

Yikes! Guess it's equally bad that way everywhere then.

I like that. I wanna be left alone, so any attention not on me and my weirdness is good.

If evolution pays attention, ASD traits will sky rocket in the very near future! NTs with smartphones are almost there already!

I used to stare at the ground as much as possible when passing people. Now that I look to see whether they may want a greeting, I often glance at each stranger's face/eyes before looking away quickly. If they smile, I smile back. If they say hello and my brain catches up, I say hello in return. If they look at me like "why are you looking at me" or other non-friendly facial expressions, I do not respond. If it were up to me, I'd rather not have contact with people on the sidewalk, but I can't avoid them, and I don't want to seem too anti-social. I guess I should be grateful that at least some people look at me with a greeting, rather than a repellant.

I can?t ever seem to get the amount of eye contact right.

It's in locations where there aren't many people around. I find it very odd when I'm in a rural location and pass the only other person who is around, and they don't even look at me, let alone say hi. I always smile and greet.

It is probably partly a safety thing, too. Eye contact coupled with a friendly greeting means "I'm not a threat to you". This is something your subconscious wants to know in these situations.

Everyone's a stranger until you know them.

It's useful for all sorts of things. It helps in crowded places so that you don't constantly bump into people. What if someone needs your help, would you know? What if someone was about to rob you, would you know? Those are the important things.

When I'm walking in the streets I often look has far has I can and either look up, or look down, and always avoid trying to make eye contact with anyone.

You can get in trouble for glancing at strange women if you have your wife or girlfriend with you