Sunglasses

Eye contact is tricky. Too much is creepy. Too little is unsettling.

Just the right amount is a moving target depending on the accompanying length of silence.

Now add to those anecdotal challenges the science behind sayings like 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder.' [We are], "more likely to interpret happy faces as looking at [us] as compared to angry, fearful, or neutral faces." In other words, perceived eye contact also changes relative to the observer's understanding of a person's emotional disposition.

Sunglasses make all of this even harder.

During this moment where appropriate social distances are expected and it's suggested that we gather outside, people in sunglasses challenge the 'eye of the beholder.' Beholding a sunglass-clad face, especially from a distance, requires us to form judgements about a person's emotional state using cues other than eye contact. This slows the time of understanding between people at time when we are yearning to be understood.

Who ever thought a day would come when sunglasses and Corona wouldn't go well together?

Tricky indeed.