So I have been spending this last week trying to make eye contact with everyone I come across. People on the street as we walk past, people that sit close to me, old men at the bus stop, everyone.

But the problem I am running into is that people generally don't play along. If I someone comes and sits near me in the library or something, there is maybe a 2 second window when they look at me, and then they look away. During these 2 seconds I am trying to break out into a smile when I see they make eye contact, but often there just isn't even time to do so since I have to consciously remind myself to smile.

Now I know when a HB looks down or sideways this can be an IOI, but I really have the feeling that 99% of the people are just looking away out of social conditioning rather than anything else. The only time a HB looked away and I could tell it was a legitimate IOI was a girl on the street where I made eye contact, smiled, she smiled, I said "Hello", and she looked down and giggled. The rest all just feel forced and conditioned. In fact, 99% of the time I don't even get to the "hello" part because they have already looked away before I can say anything.

Any advice?