Somewhat bizarre question I know, but still it’s something I noticed today. Either it’s me that does it or someone else, but in Northeast GA if I make eye contact with someone while walking bye them I often make or get a silent nod. If no eye contact is made there’s no tension to dissipate, and it’s not such an openly “hospitality” culture that saying hello is normal either, so it’s this inbetween thing.
What’s it like where you’re at? Is eye contact in general undesired and avoided? Or is it the other extreme where it would be rude not to give a hello?
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Busy city street: generally ignore; eye contact occasionally happens accidentally but that doesn’t mean people want to interact all the time wherever they go; give them a bubble of imaginary privacy
Residential neighborhood street with only a few people around: smile or nod
Hiking trail (not a crowded one): deliberately make eye contact; say hello; maybe even chat a little more if they seem friendly
If you’re squeezing past someone you’re obligated to say ‘Ope’
Friendly interaction level goes down as the number of people in the immediate area goes up.
1-20 people in the immediate area – eye contact, vocalization (hello! hey! hi!), waves, up-nods, all very common
15-30 – General smile and nods, probably not a lot of waving or talking. Bit of overlap with the first category depending on closeness of space
30-50 – Only acknowledging people you know or accidentally make directly eye contact with
50+ – You can effectively pretend like everyone is invisible because everyone else is probably acting the same way
From nc – yes a head nod is the appropriate response to direct eye contact. I don’t know why and I can’t explain it. It’s just an automatic response to me
In Chicago, in my neighborhood I normally say hi. In downtown I don’t. I guess as a few others have noted it is about how many people are around.
As others have said, it depends on the crowd density.
A side note: when I worked on the Dalton Highway (the location of the “Ice Road Truckers” series), it seemed obligatory to give a “courtesy wave” to the driver of a vehicle who passed you coming the other direction. This obligation seemed to end the instant you got off the gravel road and hit the paved highway.
Nod or a smile. Maybe a “how are you?” Or “morning” if I’m in a working environment.
I don’t acknowledge anyone I don’t know.
Is it the same for men and women? Two men, two women, one of each?
I have always wondered if it’s equal. My gut feeling is men might do the silent nod more.