Personal Space: Knowing When to Back Off and Come Closer

You can be an enemy or a friend depending on where you stand.

Photo from Bradley Gordon’s flickr

When a stranger came shoulder to shoulder out of a sudden, a person’s natural response is to protect herself and her belongings. Some will cast a hazy stare. Men may push him off without haste. This is because strangers are not welcome to enter our personal space.

Personal space is claimed territory around us. It is described as an “imaginary bubble”; and serves as an extension of our self. We are wary to people coming close to us. In situations where we are forced to crowd, we become uncomfortable. This is the reason co-riders in elevators are quiet.

People whom we have intimate relationships, be it friends or family, are permitted to invade our space. And at certain instances, we allow strangers to enter and shake hands or dip cheeks; but this is a brief contract of consent. A swift kiss from an acquaintance is alright but it’s a violation if it took minutes.

It is rude to strand next to someone and you’re too deep inside his personal space; but it is equally rude to be too away.

Culture defines a difference in personal space. Westerners generally have wider personal space compared to Asians because west people are more individualistic; and thus demand more territory. People from United States, Canada and England require the largest personal space.

Aside from geographical influences, men have broader comfort zones than women. People from the higher class of society expect more personal space. And understandably, victims of abuse need more space.

In social interactions, people should adjust to the demands of each other’s personal space. No matter how sincere your compliments are, it is the emotion you made them feel that they’ll remember. If you’re too far away, you’re aloof. If you’re too close, you’re overwhelming. Make sure you’re in the right ground to grant yourself a better impression.

It is hard to mentally calculate every person’s unique space requirements. We won’t know the history of our acquaintances either. But their behaviors will tell when we’re not at the optimal position. These signs include stepping forward or stepping back, clenching fists, covering the top lip, and leaning. Be aware of how they react.

What are your simple behaviors when people you’re interacting with are too far or too close?

Sources:
Personal Space: Why Two Can Be a Crowd; Excelle
5 Signs you are invading my personal space; Ethical Behavior

Life Facts: 1912 and 2012

Life Facts: 1912 and 2012
by Diana Leagh Matthews of ALookThruTime

Photo from photoXpress

Facts in 1910-1920
• Population: 92,407,000
• Life Expectancy: Male 48.4 Female: 51.8
• Average Salary $750 / year
• The Ziegfeld girls earns $75/week.
• Unemployed 2,150,000
• National Debt: $1.15 billion
• Union Membership: 2.1 million Strikes 1,204
• Attendance: Movies 30 million per week
• Lynchings: 76
• Divorce: 1/1000
• Vacation: 12 day cruise $60
• Whiskey $3.50 / gallon, Milk $.32 / gallon
• Speeds make automobile safety an issue
• 25,000 performers tour 4,000 U.S. theaters

Facts in 2012
• Population: 312,780,968 in the United States
• Life Expectancy: Male 75.6; Female: 80.8
• Average Salary $50, 233 / year
• Movie star earns $1.5 to $3million {depends on many variables}
• Unemployed 8.3%
• National Debt: over $15 trillion
• Attendance: Movies 1470 million per week
• Divorce: 41.8%
• Vacation: 12 day cruise $4-15k {depends on many variables}
• Gas $3.89 / gallon, Milk $3.39 / gallon

*Statistics are According to the United States Census Bureau

What is the biggest change for you?

More Moments for you:
Life Upgrades
10 Gorgeous World Leaders of 2012
PhotoLedger: The (modern, 70s & 80s) Road

ALookThruTime is run by Diana Leagh Matthews. Leagh has been a genealogist for over 18 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share.

The Undue Expense of Shoes – Nike, Skechers, etc.

Cheap on labor, excessive on endorsement.

Photo from Justin Hee’s flickr

An elegant, dandy pair of Nike shoes would cost you around $70 to $150. Little did the public know that the production cost, meaning the materials, machinery, and rent that Nike spend in making a pair of shoe, is just $12. More intriguingly, the labor was just $2.75, or just 4% of the money the customers pay for a shoe with a check sign.

Workers in the production factory really earn a little percentage, and quite frankly are underpaid.

Most of the cost of the shoes came from advertisements. Tiger Woods, for instance, was paid $20 Million to promote the Nike golf division alone. In 2006, Nike spent $476 Million to get star-studded promotion of their shoes.

This engagement does not only apply to Nike. Before buying the Shape Ups Skechers shoes Kim Kardashian promotes, think of how much the noted Kardashian milks you some money. Just think of the workers who actually WORK and put together the materials to offer comfort for your feet and how they should get the percentage more. And think of how many hungry people will be fed, out of out-of-school children be educated, and millions of lives be improved when these shoe-makers’ cost of advertisement are focused on providing support for them.

Do they really need advertisements? People already know that Nike makes shoes, so why spend millions on promoting it more? We only have a pair of feet. Everytime we buy more than necessary, remember the children who travel to school using worn-out slippers or barefoot across rocky terraces and cross a river, even rivers.

Do you need a celebrity do endorse your shoes?

More Moments for you:
Loath these Laws
Horsemeat Maltreat
i-unFacebook: Real Reasons Why You Have Facebook And Why You Can Quit 

Sources:
The Cost of a Pair of Nike Shoes; citinv.it
Investors Fret About Nike’s Star Endorsements; MSN Money

Wedding Day Changes Men in 3 Facets

You would think the night prior to a wedding day is exclusively nerve-wrecking for women; but that was wrong thinking.

Photos from imageafter; Luis Avilesortiz’s flickr

Men are also susceptible to the feeling of wedding day anxiousness in unabridged immense kind. It can be a life-altering day, where change is even more keen for men given these three facets:

Physically

A man becomes a groom. He actually dressed up himself to look presentable. With the exception to the conceited ones, men rarely gives a damn to what he wears, more so to plan it. It is said that there are only two situations in which men dresses up – in funeral and in his wedding. So this is one of the two.

Mentally

A bachelor thinking is selfish thinking. He takes an activity with monetary gain and he only does whatever he wants in his free time, as the moment goes by. Sports, video games, and list of hot women are things you would see should you have a chance to know what is inside a man’s mind. But on his wedding day, he thought of a life decision. It is this day that he would swear in front of a minister to live with one woman, forever. Well, these thoughts visit a man’s mind only once in a while. And from that day on, his selfish thinking was bashed and changed into mutual thinking – he now thinks of the girl he marries and their future together.

Emotionally.

On wedding days, men admit having feelings – love. They profess to have loved a woman, some even cry on wedding days. On every normal day, men pretend to have their feelings nonexistent. It shows robust masculinity to be unperturbed by emotions.

Unspoken but true, a wedding day is a noble and novel experience for men. Grooms, do you agree?

More Moments for you:
Behold: Hands of Men and Women
Unnecessary Technological Upgrades
Loath these Laws

i-unFacebook: Real Reasons Why You Have Facebook And Why You Can Quit

Fact: there are more people in Facebook than there were on planet 200 years ago.

Photo from Andrew Feinberg’s flickr

Why You Have Facebook

There are one billion Facebook accounts. While the main use of the social networking site was to ‘connect’, they have seduced us to keep coming back more than once a day. The company itself reported that more the 50% of Facebook active users log in daily. ‘Connect’ is a broad vision, but there are more specific reasons why we keep on letting Facebook trick us to burn something we never know how much we have, time.

1. Need to be social

We are indeed social beings. From the very start of human existence, we long for involvement. We wanted to be part of a group or conversation. And it seems like everybody has Facebook so you don’t want to be left behind.

2. Ease of chat communication

Facebook poses an easy reach of communication. But if Facebook is the easiest and the best mean of communicating is highly debatable. For instance, Facebook’s Events Invitation is so cheap, because most of the time you just invite people without thinking. It is the same way with Birthday Greetings – a thing that became phenomenal and mandatory it almost make every ‘Happy Birthday’ greetings meaningless.

3. Convenience of sharing photos

To share is also an innate urge of humans. We wanted to share photos to those people important to us and who cares about us. It is convenient to do it on Facebook rather than, lets say, an email. But the catch? Majority of your friends list do not care about the photos you upload, especially the lunch you ate or the new planner you’ve got.

4. FB Games

Ah, the era of online gaming. This time, you don’t have to play alone but you can play against your friends or a stranger. The Tetris trend was revived. But for a gamer such as myself, this is not quality gaming worth spending hours everyday.

Why You Can Quit

There’s no argument that Facebook has positive offerings. I just mentioned 4 reasons why we use Facebook; and at some level, I admit, that Facebook can be an ease. But phone and email can already do the ‘connect’ that Facebook is dispensing; and more so was natural and sterling Face-to-Face Communication. We can quit Facebook without losing something substantial.

1. Takes Time

I couldn’t stress enough that Facebook is a waste of our valuable time. It can be a distraction. Talk about that annoying applications, like ‘What is your superhero name’, ‘I found out the cause of my death. What about you?’, ‘Today’s Horoscope’ and many more of naive irrelevance. I know it is fun at first, but now it’s just tiring and rubbish.

2. Promotes Narcissism

I’m wet! Just took a bath
Yummy, lunch for me.
My dog just barfed!
Hair is messy, embarrassing!!

Facebook became a home for useless and senseless updates. These updates only feed the desire to attract attention, which may be a pitiful attempt to improve self-image.

3. Promotes Insecurity

Contrary to its purpose, it drives you away from your friends. It keeps you and your friend separated; secluded from each other by knowing activities they have done without you and your knowledge. Since most in friend list are acquaintances, the site has a low real friend ratio.

4. Unprecedented Effects

• Happy photos in Facebook is psychologically proven to have made people sad.
• Sometimes I just find it funny when I see a comment with a mandatory but inappropriate HAHA/LOL in the end. The use of LOL and emoticons is a masculinity problem.
• Instant Messaging (IM), such as omg,  wtf, haha, lol, y?, u r, trueeee, yea?! and many more are “Linguistic Ruin”. The study of Tagliamonte and Denis proves that IM leads to “breakdown in the English Language”, impairing one’s grammar and spelling skills.
• After compiling materials from American Psychological Association, Techowiz.com verified that FB can harness Narcissistic tendencies as well as anxiety and depression among other psychological disorders. It can also distract children from studying leading to lower grades.

Why are you in Facebook? Why aren’t you in Facebook?

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Sources:
Facebook: Friends’ Happy Pictures Make You Sad?; ABC News
Linguistic Ruin? LOL! Instant Messaging and Teen Language; University of Toronto
Mr. Darcy Might Have LOL’d: On Male Usage of Emoticons and Laugh-cronyms; The Hair pin
Psychological Study Highlights Negative Impact of Facebook on Teenagers; Techowiz