I have no idea how responsive I am to social cues. I do know that I can be pretty empathetic and I do pay attention to the vibes that I get from the people around me? But I have always had a difficult time interpreting them. I used to overthink it, analyze, spiral into anxiety, or just straight up ask if there’s ambiguity.
The problem is, I eventually learned that people lie. That’s why social cues exist. If I say the words “Am I bothering you?” or something along those lines, people do not feel comfortable answering these questions honestly. I used to trust that the reassurance I always got from just asking was true, but I was being mislead. I would say, oh I guess it was just in my head then when it actually wasn’t.
Now, when I get that gut feeling, even if I can’t articulate why, I just trust it anyway. If I feel that someone wants me to leave their home, instead of asking if they want me to leave, I’ll just leave. Or if I feel that I’m talking too much, I just talk less. I base it all on vibes but there aren’t any specific “social cues” that I can hone in on.
I think I’m pretty sensitive to facial expressions but yeah other than that, I don’t know if what I described makes me socially aware or anxious. I have no idea if I’m properly reacting to social cues or if it’s just me acting on my anxiety / intuition (I treat them as one in the same).