Eye contact in cyberworld...

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I hardly ever make any eye contact, not unusual with my ASD but I was wondering how this all works online, say if you were on Skype - would you look at the person you were typing with?

I wouldn't, I don't think. At least not for a long time, but that would be more out of anxiety/nervousness than anything else.

I'd probably be too focused on something on the screen than looking into the webcam, but I'd probably glance at it a few times.

Probably not.

I've become increasingly aware that my eye contact is terrible. I do well in contexts where I know the people well. But in other places I've noticed it is almost non-existent. If I were connected via web cam to someone else I suspect I would mostly not be looking at them. That plus I can't type without looking at the keyboard a lot.

I don't find eye contact difficult.

But I wanted to comment about eye contact on things like Skype, that in a sense, you almost *can't* make real eye contact on Skype. You can look at the eyes in the image on your screen, but when you do, the other person doesn't see you as looking at their eyes. To give the illusion that you're looking at them, you have to look at the camera.

I wouldn't be looking at them, because I wouldn't have my webcam on.

I don't see any need to see each other when typing messages. Writing is the way I best communicate, so why spoil the joy of text chat by both seeing the other person and being seen.

I sometimes wish I had a big enough box to carry around so that I could climb inside when I have conversation. They don't need to see me, I don't need to see them. I would talk much better. But the box would be somewhat unwieldy.

So instant messaging on a computer, text chat on a phone, or even just emails serve a great purpose for me and I wouldn't change that...

I look at myself on Skype, actually, in my eyes.

I glance at the person, but usually spend more time making faces in my camera and looking at their room.

I look at the person I am talking to, at least sometimes if im not typing also with them (to get my thoughts clearer - and often I talk to foreigners so there is the accent in play)