Cocooned VS. Engaged

First to introduce you to what I did. I work at the Tucson Mall and this seemed like the best place to do this project because its a very social public place. Although it's also private property so I couldn't take pictures without risking my job. I should also not I sustained an injury to my foot so these walking exercises have been difficult to say the least. It became unbearable when it came time to do this exercise so I compromised and walked to the more social areas and sat in that area.

What I ended up doing instead of taking pictures is journaling my thoughts and pictures of them are at the end if your curious. But instead of rewriting them I thought a better use of my time would be to reflect on them with the Dr. Michael Bull readings in mind (you can view my response to that here).

Anyway what I found that I was more focused on doing the assignment than I was actually "experiencing" what I was "supposed" to. I did find myself more isolated in the public space with my iPod on and I was relying on my eyes more than my ears but there were definite points where I felt panicked when I couldn't hear what was going on around me. I was however able to concentrate on both my podcast and the activites around me much better than I was expecting.

While I was engaged with the environment I found myself mostly just bored. See there weren't any "dangers" and watching people talk is only interesting when it's been scripted with witty banter... plus I don't speak spanish.

So what I think is the best summery is what dawned on me at the end of my engaged walk. You can see the orginal journal entry at the bottom. Basically even without the stereo I still isolated myself with other means even when trying not to. What I realized was that it wasn't the personal stereo it is just how people are. Most all of the people I tried "engaging with" didn't have stereos they just used other ways to isolate themselves. I think the stereo is just one of many tools that people use to isolate themselves in public areas, it just so happens it's the most stimulating.