{"id":54,"date":"2010-03-09T19:39:23","date_gmt":"2010-03-09T19:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/?p=54"},"modified":"2010-03-09T19:41:11","modified_gmt":"2010-03-09T19:41:11","slug":"transatlantic-differences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/2010\/03\/09\/transatlantic-differences","title":{"rendered":"Transatlantic differences"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m back from a short trip home.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It was a bit weird at first to step off the plane then out of the airport to sunny states.\u00c2\u00a0 So much sun, it was glorious.\u00c2\u00a0 Sleeping in my own bed and seeing all my loved ones was great.\u00c2\u00a0 I miss everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Whilst there someone asked me what is the biggest difference between being in England and being in America.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t remember anymore what I told her at that moment but I did tell her I’d have to think about it more.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I considered the immediate differences, driving on the left side of the road, pressing down to turn on a light switch, getting on an escalator on the left side , talking elevators the list goes on and on and on.\u00c2\u00a0 After being back for some time now I realize what I believe to be the biggest difference, the one that affects everything is the difference of personal space.<\/p>\n

Personal space is directly related to the distance at which others can control you.\u00c2\u00a0 Far enough for 2 people to touch hands is the limit of where someone can dominate you.\u00c2\u00a0 Beyond that a person cannot easily get his hands on another person. \u00c2\u00a0 Edward T. Hall, author of The Hidden Dimension, wrote that personal space ranges from 2.5 feet to 4 feet with Americans on the 4 foot end of the scale.\u00c2\u00a0 Hall also stated that the personal space for Americans and Europeans is about the same.\u00c2\u00a0 I disagree with him on that.\u00c2\u00a0 Very seldom has any American, who is a casual acquaintance, ever gotten as close to me as any English person.<\/p>\n

As I told one of my English friends when you see a group of Americans standing together talking they are not physically close at all.\u00c2\u00a0 We are usually spread out in a circle, the 4 foot space in action.\u00c2\u00a0 Take the same size group of English\/European people and you will find that they are standing much closer together and probably touching one another more often.\u00c2\u00a0 Of course geography and population dictate the amount of personal space each culture is comfortable with.\u00c2\u00a0 America is a much bigger country and we expect space and give space whereas our cousins across the pond don’t have that much space and will try to fit into the smallest space possible to get what they need or to get where they are going.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Perfect example, when I got back I had to go to market to get some food so I went to ASDA, which is owned by Wal-Mart.\u00c2\u00a0 I had been to Wal-Mart while I was at home the previous week and had a really lovely time shopping.\u00c2\u00a0 I had time to look around and get what I needed without anyone stepping in my path or brushing up against me.\u00c2\u00a0 Go forward a week and I’m in England, in ASDA,\u00c2\u00a0 shopping and about to choke someone because person after person is walking too close, brushing against me and trying to walk in the same path that I am walking regardless of the fact that I’m there.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s always crowded and given an area with open space I’ve seen English people still\u00c2\u00a0 head toward the one spot where other people are instead of\u00c2\u00a0 walking in the open, empty space.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s different.\u00c2\u00a0 I had forgotten that fact\u00c2\u00a0 while I was at home but onceI got back and realized why\u00c2\u00a0 was so aggravated I thought, ” get back into your English shopping mode now.”\u00c2\u00a0 Aggravation over, I was fine.\u00c2\u00a0 I would love to know what the personal space is for Australians.\u00c2\u00a0 They live on a continent as large as America but they don’t occupy all of the land as we do, only the outer parts, no one inhabits what they call the dead heart of Australia, the middle of the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And since I am on the subject of personal space I will mention the book that I am currently reading which is The Golden City by John Twelvehawks.\u00c2\u00a0 It is the third in the Fourth Realm trilogy of books concerning the electronic\/technological breach of personal space and information by governments and the centuries old battle for freedom from the powers that be by a small group of people.\u00c2\u00a0 A highly entertaining and thought provoking set of books to read.<\/p>\n

If you are interested further in the study of personal space or proximics you should check out this book:<\/p>\n

The Hidden Dimension<\/a> Edward T. Hall<\/p>\n

which will lead you to issues of personal space and technology which opens up an entirely different can of worms.\u00c2\u00a0 You can check out these books:<\/p>\n

Hertzian Tales<\/a> by Anthony Dunne, this book covers the space between humans and electronics, cell phones, televisions, computers.\u00c2\u00a0 Particularly the physical interactivity between device and person into an architecture the author calls the hertzian space which not only encompasses the form and function of a device but how people use, react and relate to it.<\/p>\n

Simulacra and Simulation<\/a> by Jean Baudrillard, one of my favorite books, a discussion of signs and symbols in modern society.<\/p>\n

The Fourth Realm Trilogy<\/a> – The Traveler, The Dark River, and The Golden City,all by John Twelvehawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m back from a short trip home.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 It was a bit weird at first to step off the plane then out of the airport to sunny states.\u00c2\u00a0 So much sun, it was glorious.\u00c2\u00a0 Sleeping in my own bed and seeing all my loved ones was great.\u00c2\u00a0 I miss everyone.\u00c2\u00a0 Whilst there someone asked me what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily_blog","category-liverpool"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realityunseen.com\/realityblog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}