You walk into a café. The coffee is perfect. The service is efficient. And not once does anyone look at you.

This episode starts with that small absence — and follows it somewhere unexpected. Through the emotional labour of public-facing work, the quiet logic of the screen, and the generational shift in what an interaction is even supposed to contain.

Eye contact is not a nicety. It never was. And its disappearance says something about all of us — not just the people behind the counter.

Mind the Gap with Michael Comyn.