Walk 4: Cocooned Vs. Engaged

 Cocooned

My cocooned walk was led with sunglasses and noise-cancelling headphones on. Head down, no eye-contact, music playing. I did not look at people, I only saw the ground and their feet as they passed by.

About a year ago I stopped listening to music as I walked, whether that be walking on campus or around my neighborhood, or on the trails. I realized that I disliked the way wearing headphones and playing music left me feeling disengaged with my surroundings. Similar to what Michael Bull states in the reading, I would pick music based on my particular mood. Whatever songs I would listen to would heavily influence what I was feeling and left me without control of my thoughts. In the reading, a major consensus is that people listen to music in public to feel in control. I do the opposite. Walking cocooned from my surroundings was incredibly difficult. I am extremely aware of my surroundings in public, this activity blocked off all awareness. I felt like I was not outside, not in this place, disconnected from the location. I played random songs of nostalgia and mapped some of the first ones before I sat to take notes. 

Engaged

On the way back, the sun was down and it was almost dark. I took off my sunglasses and headphones then stared at each person I passed by. This is a map based on if the person/people made eye contact with me as we passed each other. 

This time I was hyper aware of each person, all the noise, and everything surrounding me. 

It was quiet at this time of the day, the sun was fully gone and it was almost pitch black. 

No one was interested in engaging, majority were running with headphones on, looking down at their phone, or silently moving forward with no eye contact. Contrary to the daytime, when everyone and everything is in communication for the majority. 

There is an eerie sense during this time of day that comes with the silence and the height of private individualism. Each person's response to being stared at in the dark is a reflection of their desire to remain to themselves in these moments. I am able to notice the switch of being in public during the day and during night and its influence with social interactions. In my cocooned walk, it felt wrong to be so ignorant of each person that passed in a lively environment- with lot's of people around, lot's of conversations, and overall an inviting atmosphere. While during my engaged walk (less people, later at night) I was uncomfortable trying to force a look from the individuals as they side eyed me in silence. People want solitude, and more obviously, safety. Following the patterns from my mapping, I got most reciprocated eye contact from men, and one smile from a woman. I would like to keep trying this and see if what patterns I would find during the day, in a more populated area. 

 The stereotypes that come with time of day seem to follow in specific areas and locations. At a park, this follows, but somewhere populated such as downtown I don't think this would be the case. Is there more fear with less people in a space or do people simply want to keep to themselves at night? Especially in the case of headphones, my world with the music on was limited to myself. Without them, I felt attentive to everyone and less focused on myself. This concept probably follows with the people that I passed who looked straight ahead, their sense of hearing clouded with music. 

Overall, this experience justified the reason I don't walk with headphones anymore. The need of constant noise and distraction is affecting the act of walking, positively and negatively. Engaged or cocooned, all the patterns from the walks I found were influenced by senses, space, and time.