Do Nothing
Don’t Just Do Something: Stand There!
Description - This assignment required standing in a relatively busy place and do absolutely nothing for the duration of ten minutes. After considering where it would be best to do this assignment, I chose the Promenade mall in Temecula as my location. I stood near the movie theatre entrance on Friday evening around six thirty.
Reflection - Executing this exercise was extremely difficult for me. Doing absolutely nothing was an effort because I had to constantly remind myself not to check my phone, to stand still, and not to look around. After numerous attempts, I turned off my phone and the mental reminders became less needed and doing the exercise became easier. The first few minutes I didn’t feel anything in particular. I was simply standing, looking straight ahead, and absorbed in my contemplation, but after about five minutes I couldn’t help but notice some people giving me outlandish looks. I tried not to avert my attention to them but even still I could feel their eyes on me. I started feeling really uncomfortable and feeling a sense of judgment and rejection. As if because I was standing there with no evident purpose that I was suddenly displaced from society. I believe the couple of stares I received from passersby and the stares from the people that were watching me for a prolonged amount of time and were witnesses of my unusual behavior were the root of my feelings of social nonacceptance. My odd conduct even seemed to arise suspicion in the officer parked across the street from me. After the ten minutes were up, I looked back and saw the officer examining around the spot I which I stood. On the contrary, others didn’t even seem to notice. They seemed too immersed in their own lives to even take note of my abnormal behavior. However, those that did notice didn’t fail to make me feel as if my behavior was ignominious.
Analysis - Upon going into this assignment I already had an idea of the social
Description - This assignment required standing in a relatively busy place and do absolutely nothing for the duration of ten minutes. After considering where it would be best to do this assignment, I chose the Promenade mall in Temecula as my location. I stood near the movie theatre entrance on Friday evening around six thirty.
Reflection - Executing this exercise was extremely difficult for me. Doing absolutely nothing was an effort because I had to constantly remind myself not to check my phone, to stand still, and not to look around. After numerous attempts, I turned off my phone and the mental reminders became less needed and doing the exercise became easier. The first few minutes I didn’t feel anything in particular. I was simply standing, looking straight ahead, and absorbed in my contemplation, but after about five minutes I couldn’t help but notice some people giving me outlandish looks. I tried not to avert my attention to them but even still I could feel their eyes on me. I started feeling really uncomfortable and feeling a sense of judgment and rejection. As if because I was standing there with no evident purpose that I was suddenly displaced from society. I believe the couple of stares I received from passersby and the stares from the people that were watching me for a prolonged amount of time and were witnesses of my unusual behavior were the root of my feelings of social nonacceptance. My odd conduct even seemed to arise suspicion in the officer parked across the street from me. After the ten minutes were up, I looked back and saw the officer examining around the spot I which I stood. On the contrary, others didn’t even seem to notice. They seemed too immersed in their own lives to even take note of my abnormal behavior. However, those that did notice didn’t fail to make me feel as if my behavior was ignominious.
Analysis - Upon going into this assignment I already had an idea of the social