Eye contact is a whole economy.

And I don’t just mean eye contact between two people.

But, rather, who gets eye contact, who doesn’t, how long someone gets it, the quality of the eye contact they’ve received.

The distribution of eye contact in any room explains everything.

For example,

if there 30 people in a room, and they meet often

and 29 people secretly agreed to not directly look at the remaining 1 person whenever that person spoke

how would that person ever prove that?

How quickly would that person spiral and never speak?

On the flip,

if you know someone is often not looked at or they’re looked around

say, because of their job,

and you make a point of always seeing and acknowledging them,

how powerful.

You can remind someone they’re not invisible just with a daily

hey there

Teens beg celebrities to “notice me” throughout social media.

Toddlers close their eyes and believe that if they can’t see you looking at them, then you must not be able to see them.

That desire and need to be looked upon is something else, boy.

This is exactly right.

If you’re a black professional, the way into this below-the-surface economy is for *you* to make a point of speaking to and being friendly with

anyone who looks like a relative.

That begins with warm eye contact. https://twitter.com/sugar_puddin/status/1189226475578376192?s=21