Eye contact when passing strangers

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When you walk past strangers, do you look at their faces, do you look them in the eyes or do you not look at them at all?

If you look at their faces or in the eyes, does their expression weird you out?

Sometimes, I look at their faces (part of some weird staring thing I do) and sometimes our eyes meet. Often it feels like looking at blank expressionless zombies.

I don't really stare at random strangers but there are times when somehow I end up having eye contact with some strangers. It's really awkward and I don't like it. I wouldn't say they look like blank expressionless zombies. Usually I can sense awkwardness from the other person, too, as we both quickly look away. I do sometimes see blank expressionless zombies when they are not looking at me but just seeming to be lost in thought or seeming to be really feeling blank. It's kind of funny. Some friendly strangers actually smile and greet me when our eyes accidentally meet.

I don't look at them.

It depends where I am. If I'm wandering around my capital city where there are lots of people around, I will look at the faces of the people who come into my line of vision but I will have little interest in making eye contact with them. I find people tend to look like "blank expressionless zombies" in places like on a train, or around the business districts of the city, where most people don't know one another so they have their "resting face" or "leave me alone" face on. People who are with friends or otherwise interacting don't look emotionless to me.

In the small town that I live in, there is a lot less of the "zombieness". I will usually make eye contact with people when I'm outside of the main shopping district, and sometimes exchange a greeting.

Why would I look at people I don't know?

I usually don't look at people at all, if I do it's just a quick glance from a distance. People don't greet strangers in the city and that suits me very well. I look down a lot (not to avoid people, that's just a bonus), but because it's my natural disposition. I often don't notice people much at all.

But when meeting someone in larger woods or mountainside, a lot of people seem to think you need to greet those you meet. I don't! I wonder if that behavior is a Norwegian thing or if people suddenly have say hi in the wilderness in other places too?

Thank goodness I've always been the kind of person who looks at people----and, I usually nod and say "Hey", or "Hi"----because now that I live in a black neighborhood, if you don't do it, some people think you're dis-ing them, or are afraid of them. I've felt, a few times, that black people thought I was afraid of them, and they went out of their way to be friendly. I even, actually, had a couple say to me "Hello, don't be afraid", and then continue to ask me something, or whatever. I thought that was extemely interesting because I've been living here almost 16 years!!

I don't pay much attention to them & glance but that's about it.

I do avoid making eye contact when passing a stranger, because I feel self-conscious and don't want to catch them looking at me. So I just look down or pretend I'm distracted by something in a shop window or over the road or something. I feel that if I do make eye contact with a stranger, I don't do it naturally. It feels forced because I'm too conscious of it. Occasionally I find myself subconsciously meeting a stranger's eyes, but I don't mind when that happens because it feels natural and so I probably have a more natural expression and so I don't feel like I'm being judged or anything. I know that they've met my eyes just like I met their's, and they either give a little smile or just carry on their business and I don't feel self-conscious. But when I consciously make myself look at strangers, I find they look at me in a way that I feel is judgemental. I'm not one to stare at people, because I hate being stared at myself by people I don't know, so I don't do it to others.

llee, speaking for myself, a smile from a stranger will either have no impact or make me skeptical or creeped out. They absolutely never make my day!
And who cares about figuring out strangers?

I do not look people in the eye but I am at least aware of everyone and everything around me. I see a society of people who are not generally aware of others, nor care. People running into each other at the grocery, or bumping into things because they are simply unaware or are self absorbed in some electronic device, conversation, game or whatever the hell people are doing on those things while walking around. I have actually destroyed more cell phones of my own than I can count just because I got annoyed by being surrounded by human beings consumed with beep-beep-beep sounds from games are nonstop incoming messages, totally oblivious to actual human beings within inches of them. Just took my cell devices out of my pocket and tore them apart with my hands.