Autism?
You are correct though, millennials can't bear being looked at in the eyes for more than a few seconds at a time, it's bizarre. You can be having a very important conversation about some work you're doing, planning something out- it's just you two talking, nothing to distract, but still they're looking around the room like the solution to the problem is somewhere in there.
I think it's a maturity thing as well. I had poor eye contact until after military service, and then boxing. Now it just comes naturally to look a person right in the eyes when you're speaking to them, unless you're otherwise engaged.
Yes, autism. Inability to make eye contact is a classic sign of autism. It's tied to self confidence and threat perception. Depending on the situation eye contact can be very threatening to the point that it causes involuntary physical reactions. Probably has something to do with epigenetic switches that get toggled on early in childhood.
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