I love staring at people. Can't help it. I'm very curious! If they catch me, I just smile kindly and then look away.
I've lived in big cities where you grow to live with the invisible wall that everyone seemed to be putting up. I never knew my neighbors in my apartment building. I referred to them as "glasses guy," "Chinese people who threw the live mouse in a grocery bag outside their door," "hipster guy," "Titanic soundtrack blaring lady..." When we would come and go in the hallways, we wouldn't look at each other (just like the elevator phenomenon).
I think I read or heard somewhere along the way that staring is confrontational. I think the parallel was made to dogs. When dogs make eye contact with each other, it is sort of a "chicken" test to see which dog has more dominance.
