TRAVEL BEHAVIORAND THE INTERACTIONS WITH STRANGERS

HUMAN BLINDERS

THE PROBLEM

Travel. Just thinking the word makes me image all the places I wish I could be right now. Who doesn’t love to travel? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to a different destination every month? Most people would love to go on a vacation and visit popular landmarks, buy souvenirs, go to the beach, stay in a nice hotel, etc. On the other hand there are many other different types of travel. Travel can also be thought about as the different modes of transportation. How do we go from one place to another? Is it by the train, bus, airplane or horse and carriage? Nevertheless, how we behave while we travel is related to all these diverse categories of travel.

When traveling, it is inevitable to encounter strangers. No matter where you are, either walking on the street in a foreign country or even in your own country, the airport, the train station, or even the bus station there will be strangers. The idea behind travel behavior is how the person acts when they encounter these strangers when traveling. Many questions come to mind regarding this situation between strangers. What is the interaction that happens between strangers when getting on and off a subway car? Who lets who go in or out of the subway first? Do people line up? What is the interaction between the strangers sitting next to each other? How do people act? Do the strangers on the subway interact at all?

In NYC when people get in or off a train it is usually a lot of pushing and rushing. Everyone pushes to get into the subway car to get to a seat as quickly as possible. The problem I get when answering these questions is that there is not much interaction at all. If there is any type of interaction people in general are not very civil towards each other. These are the problems that I find in the human behavior when traveling and in a public place. This actually, to me, is a major problem. Not only is it about the travel behavior and problems of interactions between strangers but also it is a statement about the type of society that we currently live in. We are living in a very individualistic world where many don’t care for strangers, the people unfamiliar to them. People are basically walking around with blinders on. They are looking straight ahead and avoiding any interaction with strangers.

To address these issues that I find in travel behavior, I would like to tackle this problem and change the way that people think about their interactions with others. I would like to create a situation in a public place, where people are traveling, and get strangers to interact in a civil way towards each other. Hopefully after my project, people will no longer be pushing each other to get a seat on the subway. Ideally people will stop thinking so individualistically and take the blinders off and see all the interactions they can make with all the new faces around them.

THERE IS A MAJOR PROBLEM REGARDING THE HUMAN BEHAVIOR WHEN TRAVELING AND THE INTERACTIONS WITH THE STRANGERS THAT WE ENCOUNTER.

Do not talk to strangers- once a warning given by worrying parents to their hapless children- has now become the strategic precept of adult normality. This precept recasts as a prudent rule the reality of life in which strangers are such people with whom one refuses to talk.

-ZYGMUNT BAUMAN

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I think the saying "Don't talk to strangers" has become all too literal, nobody seems to talk at all. They'll happily send hundreds of texts a day and 'tweet' on strangers status' but will barely ever look a stranger in the eye.

Have we completely lost our faith in the human race? We're all social animals,inquisitive and interested and yet we allow hundreds of people to pass us by on a daily basis without even regarding them, questioning their motifs, or looking at them. It's for this reason entirely that I'm going to make a pledge to be more friendly to people in everyday life, I've gone on for far too long just looking at the ground or listening to my iPod, anything in order to avoid conversation and any form of contact. The funny thing is when someone is friendly, you treat them as if their an alien, for instance I went on a jog a few months ago with a friend and a man ran past us and said "good afternoon", instantaneously my friend and I looked at each other ,pulled a face then continued as if we'd just been approached by an extraterrestrial creature.It really saddens me that it's become the 'norm' to be introverted and isolated.

I think we've all just become paranoid, who can blame us?The media bombard us with stories of rapists , paedophiles, mad gunmen on the rampage, and the very very worst people of all , women who put cats in bins. No wonder we've lost our faith in the kindness of strangers, we're terrified of strangers.

http://littleworthandwitt.blogspot.com/2011/01/do-talk-to-strangers.html

Don’t talk to strangers! That’s the warning that is passed on to our children that was given to us, and is handed around generations like Halloween candy. The cycle goes on and on.

How would a busy day go, though, if you lived life not talking to strangers? Forget that cup of designer coffee, since you don’t know the barista. There’s a new cashier at the grocery store today, so milk will have to wait until the one you know is back. You get the point, as silly as it is.

I fully support the thought that children shouldn’t just chat it up with any random unknown adult, aka “the stranger.” But I also believe that such a statement is silly to make, especially when it comes to teaching children.

Many situations arise where it is just plain polite to respond to “strangers.” A compliment at the mall. A parent of a new friend at school. A waitress at a favorite (kid-friendly) restaurant.

What I find the most disturbing about kids talking to people they don’t know, however, is when the people happen to be other kids, and it is the parents who are saying something like “don’t bother that other kid.”In one particular situation, two parents were allowing their child to do whatever she wanted in a restaurant. Make noise, run around, go crazy. When the child wanted to talk to ours, however, the parents immediately admonished their kid with a “you should leave them alone.” So there’s a wonderful message: being an obnoxious kid is okay, but interacting with other kids is not.

It’s important for kids to interact with other kids, but it’s equally important for them to do so with kids that they’ve never met before. After all, every single person in your life is someone that was once a stranger to you. Even your dad and mom.

http://dadvsspawn.com/2011/04/10/dont-talk-to-strangers/

New York Subway Fight: Not Even A Baby Can Get in the Way of Scrap Between Two Women

BY CHRISTINA BOYLEDAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Nothing could get in the way of these two women and their beef - not even a baby.

Straphangers watched in disbelief as two passengers viciously attacked each other on an L train recently, as a baby stroller belonging to one of them rolled out the door onto the platform.

The fight, captured on a cell phone and posted on YouTube and Animal New York Tuesday, showed the duo having an argument over a seat which quickly turned ugly.

One of the women swung her bag over her shoulder, rocking the stroller back and forth with a sleeping child inside. She appears to be getting ready to exit the train at the next stop when the verbal war of words turned physical.

As the women brawled and tore each other’s hair out, passengers ran for cover and the stroller rolled out the doors.

The caption posted beneath the YouTube video says that other people at the scene took care of the baby until the fight was broken up.

Anyone with information about the subway brawl is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

PREGNANT ON THE SUBWAY

I’ve always enjoyed pondering and writing about subway etiquette, and one of the more obvious areas of this field concern pregnant women. People on subway trains are notoriously adept at avoiding eye contact with others on the subway and often pretend they don’t see those who are pregnant. In fact, my girlfriend witnessed a pregnant lady board a crowded train along Queens Boulevard, and she couldn’t secure a seat for a stop or two.

To the highlight the problem, Elizabeth Carey Smith of The Letter Office charted her progress in the subway while pregnant and presented the results in graphic form. Click the image below for a much larger version.

Essentially, she found that people on the G train rarely gave up their seats while women on the 6 and men on the L were most forthcoming. More men than women gave up seats, and more people did so in the morning than in the evening. The graphic is a good reminder to those who aren’t or will never be pregnant: Give up your seat to those who need it.

http://secondavenuesagas.com/2011/03/08/graphic-of-the-day-pregnant-on-the-subway/

The fun theory is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

INSPIRATION

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? This staircase plays like a piano as you walk up. 66% more chose the stairs instead of the escalator.

PIANO STAIRCASE

Can we get more people to use the bottle bank by making it fun to do? The bottle bank arcade created a game where points can be earned by recycling your bottles. A light lights up indicating which hole to throw your bottle in. Over one evening the bottle bank arcade was used by over 100 people. During the same period, the nearby conventional bottle bank was only used twice.

BOTTLE BANK ARCADE MACHINE

Can we get more people to obey the speed limit by making it fun to do? The speed camera will do two things. It will photograph speeders and give them a citation. The money then goes in a pot and if you are obeying the law your picture will also get taken and will be entered into a lottery and win some of the money from the speeders. The average speed was 32km/h before the experiment. During the experiment the average speed was 25km/h. The speed reduced by 22%.

THE SPEED CAMERA LOTTERY

To throw garbage in the bin instead of onto the floor shouldn’t really be so hard. Many people still fail to do so. Can we get more people to throw garbage into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do? When garbage is thrown into the bin a sound of something falling really deep plays with an echoing crash at the end. During one day, 72kg of garbage was collected. Thats 41kg more than the normal bin just a small distance away.

THE WORLD’S DEEPEST BIN

Can we ensure everyone keeps their safety belt on by making it fun to do? A message plays about the safety of wearing seat belts. And only when you have your seat belts on can you use the in car entertainment.

THE PLAY BELT

IMPROV EVERYWHERE

Improv Everywhere is a New York City-based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Created in August of 2001 by Charlie Todd, Improv Everywhere has executed over 100 missions involving tens of thousands of undercover agents.

www.improveverywhere.com

The lectern was in a very high-traffic area, and people immediately started to take notice, stopping to read the sign. The megaphone was attached by a cable, allowing people to take it out of its holster but not allowing them to walk away with it. Within a few minutes people starting using the megaphone. There is always a crowd of people at this part of Union Square, so there was a built-in audience of people sitting on the steps. The reactions to the lectern varied. Some folks ignored it. Some stopped, but decided to take a picture rather than following the instruction. Of the people who chose to speak, there were many recurring themes with “I love you,” “I love New York,” and “Have a great day” being the most common responses.

SAY SOMETHING NICE

The No Pants Subway Ride is annual event staged by Improv Everywhere every January in New York City. The mission started as a small prank with seven guys and has grown into an international celebration of silliness, with dozens of cities around the world participating each year. The idea behind No Pants is simple: Random passengers board a subway car at separate stops in the middle of winter without pants. The participants do not behave as if they know each other, and they all wear winter coats, hats, scarves, and gloves. The only unusual thing is their lack of pants.

NO PANTS SUBWAY RIDE

Everyone is generally in a pretty crappy mood when they’re making this sbuway transfer with a herd of other people at the crack of dawn. It was definitely a location in need of a bit of fun. There were four signs that together said, “Rob wants to give you a high five! Get Ready!” There was a fifth sign that just read “Rob” and had an arrow pointing downward. Around 75% of the riders gave Rob a high five. There were some people who were both listening to music and reading a book who didn’t look up to notice what was going on. A small percentage seemed suspicious and elected to keep their hands to themselves. Most people smiled and high fived. Some people kept a straight face during the high five, but then privately smiled to themselves a few moments later. Watching people after they gave a high five was almost more fun. Almost everyone was left with a smile.

HI FIVE ESCALATOR

ARTS FOR TRANSIT

Arts for Transit encourages the use of public transit by presenting visual and performing arts projects in subway and commuter rail stations.

http://www.mta.info/mta/aft/

The Fun Theory and Improv Everywhere are examples of how to create an interaction between people in a public place.

However, all of these instances only allow the interaction to happen for that moment in time, when the experiment is happening.

They also use the most extreme ideas to cause interactions. Arts for Transit may be a more subtle way but it does not have the same affect of interactions such as the Fun Theory or Improv Everywhere.

A lot of times, people might enjoy the artwork on their own without even talking to strangers about what they think of the art.

I would like to create something more subtle that will have a major impact and change the way strangers interact forever.

The main point about civility is... the ability to interact with strangers without holding their strangeness against them and without pressing them to surrender it or to renounce some or all the traits that have made them strangers in the first place.

-ZYGMUNT BAUMAN

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