Weird humans... by Thomas
Today in the bus, i was looking around... people's attitude, and so on. And I realised something. We might be a social animal, but we hate contact with strangers...
People sit as far from eachother as they can, when forced to sit in between two persons, either they stay up or they will reluctantly sit making sure that they are not touching the other people. Also, people can't help looking at eachother, yet when eyes cross, they turn away as quick as possible. Guys can make the analogy with the public restroom - same...well not the eyes, but you always do your business, first as far away from the door, if someone has taken that spot already - as far as you can...
And you know what, the bigger the city, the more the phenomenum... Actually if you think about it, people in smaller villages know intimely more people than the ones in big cities.
We indeed are a weird social animal.
Labels: By Thomas, Life in North America
posted by Kim/Thomas @ 6:13 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
That's so funny, because I think the French do the exact opposite and I found it a bit disconcerting at first. Katie & Kyliemac just did a podcast about this a few weeks ago.
I can be the only person on the bus, but yet when someone else gets on, they will still come sit right next to me! Same thing for bathrooms - there can be twenty empty stalls, but if a French woman comes in, she's going to choose the one next to mine.
I guess it just goes to show the the French and Americans have different conceptions of personal space, right? *S*
I've noticed this same phenomenon myself. It seems that the more densely populated an area, the less connected people often are with each other. I think in large, this has to do with the fact that cities and suburbs are so overcrowded, people become so irritated with others and so desirable of personal space.
However, with that said, I too am baffled when I get on a terribly crowded airplane and someone next to me will just desperately start talking to me (even if I am reading a book or am listening to music on my ipod!) as though I were the last possible communication they would ever have. And I wonder why I'm so irritated by this.
So, yes, we are weird...myself fully included. I value that feeling of connection with others, but I thrive on my own personal space and privacy.
In Geneva people go with the sitting far apart (annoying when you get on the bus with a friend and a whole row of single seats are free but none where you can sit together), but I remember hearing stories from a few friends who spent months living in various African countries about how people on the buses would sit right next to the only other person there (almost literally in their laps as the buses were quite small)
It's not always like this around the world, some places it's considered rude to ignore another, even if a perfect stranger.
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