Proxemics Personal Proxemics in Some

Proxemics

Personal Proxemics

In some senses, I tend to be very conscious of the personal space between myself and others. Over the course of this past week, I have consciously noted my immediate emotional response to certain proxemical conditions. In particular, I would focus anecdotally on those relating to interactions or engagements with strangers. This is warranted by the tendency for most individuals to assume differences in proxemics depending upon the familiarity of the other individual or individuals. Certainly, most of us are more likely to tolerate being forced into close proximity with a friend or relation on a bus or elevator than with a stranger.

This would prove a particularly appropriate way to approach the non-scientific experiment for someone such as myself, who lives in the middle of a bustling city. Though there are many opportunities such as in the park and on my own side-street to enjoy ample personal space and 'leg room' as it were, I also often find myself on tightly packed streets, in public restrooms, in line at a cash register, at sporting events or caught in traffic. These instances revealed some things about myself that I may not have consciously recognized prior to this experiment.

In particular, I am made uncomfortable by individuals who tend to stare. According to a compelling New York Times article by Rosenbloom (2006), Americans as a cultural characteristic tends to value personal space. But there are numerous other levels of proxemics which reveal the depth and nuance of this alleged preservation of privacy. As Rosenbloom denotes, "personal space involves not only the invisible bubble around the body, but all the senses. People may feel their space is being violated when they experience an unwelcome sound, scent or stare: the woman on the bus squawking into her cellphone, the co-worker in the adjacent cubicle dabbing on cologne, or the man in the sandwich shop leering at you over his panini." (Rosenbloom, 1)

Staring is a particular invasion of space that my observation has shown me to be both intrusive and quite commonplace. In fact, it was hardly anything personal. As I observed the behavior of others, I found that staring seemed to be some urban cultural attribute, as though the close proximity into which we'd all been forced had somehow also diminished the invisible barriers restricting inappropriate eye contact.

Beyond that, there are many who have drawn the same deduction in terms of physical space. For my purposes, a stranger who does not have any personal goal or reasonable aim in terms of engaging me directly should not be closer than three feet away. And when this does occur in a public space due to the largeness and density of a crowd, it is understood that all individuals are intended upon making greater distance between themselves as soon as the opportunity arises.

I have also gained an appreciation for the reality that certain decisions strip us of our rights to personal or private space such as the attendance of a big event. I did have the opportunity to attend a football game this week. Naturally, the crowd was very large, the seats tightly backed and the bathroom a long line of far too closely packed individuals. This tried my comfort, but I was also comforted by the understanding that individuals had no intent demonstrated in their closeness but that we were all in a scenario were space was too scarce to achieve such preferences.