How have NTs survived with their smiles covered behind masks

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Honestly, not a lot of smiling here, either.
My best friend is super extroverted, and he used to smile and say hello to everyone he met...a good amount of people, especially in wealthier communities, wouldn't give him the time of day.

This is true especially when men tell me to smile. But it's possible the person started scowling because I committed a faux pas by not smiling?


I think those people are mad at "being told what to do." Do you think they refused masks because they dislike their facial expressions being covered?

You started making eye contact because of face masks? Impressive. I feel like my lack of eye contact is now much more noticeable since face mask requirements.

I've visted three states in the US - California, Hawaii and Arizona. In all three states people do what I can only describe as a whole face/body smile. Very warm and inviting. My parents had American friends, same.

In Australia in the 1980s American trainers in hospitality/tourism courses actually had to train our students how to smile

A lot of Antiva protesters will hold signs that say something about needing to see smiles again.
Especially angry Karen moms who think their school kids are "suffering" because of it.


I guess Michigan just isn't a very smiley state...

People don't read just your mouth, they look at your eyes, your body language. People laugh and you can still see them smile because their eyes crease and so do their cheeks when they smile. People raise their brows as well. Some people get bunny noses as they smile. Your tone of voice as well.

Personally I've never heard that complaint. From what I can tell, they adapted quickly to having their faces covered.


This is a good point. I feel like here in America smiling is a really, really big deal.

I've heard about detecting fake smiles. It seems like I naturally don't place much importance on eyes.
I've been seeing new advertisements online and in real life (like at my local library) where the people wear masks and I assume are smiling behind their masks.
Here's an example:

The smile in the example below is obvious to me. It looks like the woman might even be laughing.

It just amazes me that even in masks smiles are very obvious to NTs. Otherwise they wouldnt have ads with people wearing masks. The smiling eyes must really jump out at them.

Is this tied to face blindness? I've wondered if I might have face blindness. I do have aphantasia and can't picture faces in my mind's eye. So you're saying you see microexpressions TOO well? Are you on the autism spectrum?

Yeah their smiles are very obvious to me even with the masks.

Awesome 1971 song 'Smiling Faces Sometimes' by 'The Undisputed Truth' (LINK) is telling. Lyric sample, "a smile is just a frown turned upside-down."

LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smiling_F ... s#Overview

I was unaware of this. They sound like outliers to me. All the NTs I've observed have seem unbothered by not seeing smiles.


I've never paid much attention to eyebrows while smiling. I think I only raise my eyebrows when I'm really excited. I think when I smile normally, my eyebrows don't move up.


The above examples are obvious to me only because the people look like they're squinting. Their lower eyelids are really prominent plus the squint and that is what looks like smiling to me. I don't really notice the eye creases like some posters have mentioned. I always thought eye creases were like literal wrinkles/ lines aka crows feet. And only some older people would show those wrinkles.

Since making this thread, I practiced really focusing on squeezing the outer corners of my eyes. My smile does look happier but also a little phony and over the top. If I squeeze the outer corners and relax my eyebrows a tad it looks happy and realistic I think. The weird thing is I don't think I naturally crease the skin/muscles around the outer corners of my eyes that much when I smile...Now I'm worried something is wrong with me. I do have a formal diagnosis of depression which might explain why I don't smile like a normal person. And maybe not squeezing the outer corners of my eyes is why people in the past asked me why I look sad. Wearing these face masks has been quite eye opening (pun intended).

It's no secret to NTs that smiles can be fake. It's interesting they still place so much importance on smiling.

Depression creates negative affect which makes it physically challenging to smile.

Again this is cultural/situational and individual. If you become familiar with a person smiling you learn to identify the subtle nuances that dictate whether the smile is genuine or whether there is an ulterior motive,

Kind of a composite measure through gauging the full body/facial reaction which can also include the tone of voice.

One good thing about wearing masks is people don't tell you to smile all the time.

I notice checkout staff don't smile anymore, they think we can't see behind their masks (pardon the pun)

You wouldn't smile either if you were yelled at and cussed out all day.