argv[-1]argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org
Oct 20, 2026, 2:29 AMI notice that pictures involving #eyeContact are fairly often #CW'd on the #Fediverse. Why is that? I take it some people have a sensitivity to eye contact? I want to know more!
Replies
Olivepeachfiend@mastodon.sdf.orgOct 20, 2026, 2:34 AM@argv_minus_one can't speak for 100% of fedizens, but autistic folk often have trouble with EC. so says my autistic partner. she says she focuses on someone's eyebrows when speaking to them because it's just convincing enough to most neurotypicals.
- argv[-1]argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.orgOct 20, 2026, 2:35 AM
Can confirm, I would not be able to tell the difference.
But I was hoping to know more about the eye contact sensitivity itself. What is it? What happens to them when they're subjected to it?
TrueNorthSpice 🇨🇦TrueNorthSpice@mastodon.worldOct 20, 2026, 2:40 AMThis article might be helpful
https://thefnc.com/research/four-reasons-why-eye-contact-can-cause-brain-overstimulation/
Gorgeous na Shock!indigoparadox@mastodon.socialOct 20, 2026, 3:06 AM@argv_minus_one Don't like it! Feel sick!
Also don't like food pictures! CW those too, pls! A good food picture, first and foremost, doesn't use real food. Or if it does, it's covered in shellac and other inedible additives to make it photogenic.
If you take a food picture, 9 times out of 10, it looks like a bowel movement. It's gross! Makes me feel sick!
Anyway I try to setup filters and not nag but you asked. Well, you didn't ask about the food thing but lemme vent a little.
- argv[-1]argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.orgOct 20, 2026, 3:20 AM
You know what, you're not wrong about food pictures.
It doesn't make me feel outright sick, usually, but…a lot of meals don't look particularly appetizing, either.
As for eye contact, though, if I may ask: have you ever figured out any particular reason why it makes you sick?
Luqa 🦄🪄🌔Unicorn@pagan.plusOct 20, 2026, 4:16 AMFor me, discomfort comes from eye contact in person, but I don't care about photos because I know I can easily look away. I lose my train of thought, and it feels like someone is staring into my soul. Like they might read my mind , if I don't look away.
When I hold shame inside, regardless of the validity and/or relevance of the situation, it feels like the other person has some sort of hold on me.
When I am around someone who stares me in the eyes and continues to even after I look away, it feels like they are attempting to exert control over me, and that's where my body can start to feel disregulated. This also comes from mistrusting the other person, as well as me just not having a general sense of safety for any reason.
This has been lifelong, long before I had any clue I am autistic. I never could figure out the why part, until this year. I am only starting to understand, with slow exploration.
But my gut tells me that it's because it often feels like an attempt to exert control, and my instinct is to resist. I've recently become interest in hypnotism, and I think if I look closer at that, I would come closer to understanding my response.
In recent months, I have found a lot of change in myself on this issue, anf I can engage in EC with more people than I used to. I figure it's due to "brain hacks" (Hidden Brain podcast type stuff) and mushrooms. As well as a fierce determination to choose my responses (not just about this, about everything), rather than exist in a state of uncontrolled reaction to external things (cPTSD related work).
Hope this lens might help, even though it's only adjacent to your question.