I would of thought that "doing nothing" would be a simple task. Considering "doing nothing" actually means doing absolutely nothing, but in fact it was quite AWKWARD to just stand somewhere and do nothing. I wandered into Target at about three thirty yesterday. I figured it's JUST Target, where middle-upper class people shop. I mean I go there all the time to buy things, so why not construct my experiment there. So that is exactly what I did. I stood in the middle of the produce section for ten extremely LONG and awkward minutes. Serval shoppers walked by. Many in which did not even noticed my presence. I think this is because I am a teenaged girl, so why pay attention to me? I was just in normal clothes, just standing there, it wasn't like I was dressed in CRAZY unusual clothes. Therefore, I did not really give people a reason to STARE at me. A woman, who was white, middle aged, and wearing all gray, walked by the produce section a couple of times. Out of all these times I could tell she made sure not to look my way. She completely avoided eye contact with me. Why would she go out of her way to not look at me? Was I making her feel UNCOMFORTABLE, like she was making me feel? Another person who happened to be a white male in his early twenties and worked at Target, walked by me a couple of times as well. He would walk towards me as if he wanted to say something. He then did one of those AWKWARD SMILES as he walked passed me for the final time. The awkward smiles are the worst, because he was not the only person who did it. A handful of people awkwardly smiled, or did a double-take at me. Overall, this "doing nothing" activity was not all that easy. It made me feel out of my own ELEMENT because I am not good with awkward situations and I am a very LOUD person. So, just standing there not really doing anything was quite difficult.
Friday, August 26, 2011
So Called.. "Doing Nothing"
I would of thought that "doing nothing" would be a simple task. Considering "doing nothing" actually means doing absolutely nothing, but in fact it was quite AWKWARD to just stand somewhere and do nothing. I wandered into Target at about three thirty yesterday. I figured it's JUST Target, where middle-upper class people shop. I mean I go there all the time to buy things, so why not construct my experiment there. So that is exactly what I did. I stood in the middle of the produce section for ten extremely LONG and awkward minutes. Serval shoppers walked by. Many in which did not even noticed my presence. I think this is because I am a teenaged girl, so why pay attention to me? I was just in normal clothes, just standing there, it wasn't like I was dressed in CRAZY unusual clothes. Therefore, I did not really give people a reason to STARE at me. A woman, who was white, middle aged, and wearing all gray, walked by the produce section a couple of times. Out of all these times I could tell she made sure not to look my way. She completely avoided eye contact with me. Why would she go out of her way to not look at me? Was I making her feel UNCOMFORTABLE, like she was making me feel? Another person who happened to be a white male in his early twenties and worked at Target, walked by me a couple of times as well. He would walk towards me as if he wanted to say something. He then did one of those AWKWARD SMILES as he walked passed me for the final time. The awkward smiles are the worst, because he was not the only person who did it. A handful of people awkwardly smiled, or did a double-take at me. Overall, this "doing nothing" activity was not all that easy. It made me feel out of my own ELEMENT because I am not good with awkward situations and I am a very LOUD person. So, just standing there not really doing anything was quite difficult.
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excellent observations, now draw some conclusions about society... Americans avoid eye contact when... and then connect it to class- so i realized this when i was being sociologically mindful
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