Field trip interviews
Assignment:
We were told to take public transit on the Sprinter Train, and while we were on it, we were to gather three different interviews from different people. The questions we asked were along the lines of finding out what our person was doing that day, how what they were doing effected their lives, what movement meant to them, and a few others questions. From these questions it was hoped to get some kind of story out of them about their life.
Kelly, where are your Interviews?
Me and my partner managed to only get one interview while on the train, and even then, it was very one sided and the person we interviewed gave us one-two worded answers and refused to build on anything he said. I normally would have thought we just didn't do well enough asking him questions, but than I remembered the first time we did interviews at the bus station weeks before. The interview me and my group got the first time was also very one sided, and the guy we talked to didn't elaborate on any of the questions we asked him, even when we tried to elaborate on his one worded answers he refused to go into depth. This all got me thinking about the society we live in right now, but ill talk about that later.
Why didn't you get all three interviews on the train?
I can promise, and swear on my life that we tried our absolute best to try to talk to more people, only I have severe social anxiety and i'm terrified of talking to people I don't know, and it makes it even worse for me if those are adults i've never seen before in my life. It got so bad on the train, that my partner and I ended up sitting next to someone for almost twenty minutes on the train, and couldn't manage to say a single word to them. I hope to try harder next time, as I feel awful that I couldn't fully complete the assignment.
What was that thing you mentioned about society earlier Kelly?
After going home almost empty handed from the train assignment, being me, I was trapped in my thoughts and got to thinking about the people we managed to talk to, and the people we were afraid to talk to. I ended up getting it stuck in my head that current society doesn't like to talk to people, as were mostly incased in technology and music. I remember someone we didn't interview, we didn't talk to because they were huddled up in the corner of the train with headphones in and they did not look like they wanted to be bothered. I also thought about if I was on the receiving end of our project, and was in public somewhere and if someone wanted me to answer questions, would I have said yes or have been slightly annoyed? The obvious answer for me was yes, I would have been annoyed and wouldn't want to answer questions, knowing that i'm an introvert who doesn't typically like people.
Later in the week I asked adults I knew what they thought about my theory about society changing this way. They all disagreed with me, and said it was probably just the people we saw and talked to, and they made fair arguments why, and said other things about what we were supposed to learn from this experience, etc. Than, me needing at least someone on my side, I asked a bunch of my friends, some from our school who did the project, and a ton who didn't go to this school. Everyone my age agreed with me. So now I understood that clearly, it must be the way people think about the world, and the way people grew up with it that could effect peoples opinions on my little debate. I got to thinking about how I grew up when around people, and tried to figure out why I don't like to talk to people, trying to trace it back to some kind of experience as a kid. I realized, I don't have an experience like that, in fact, I remember people, and strangers always talking to me as a kid. I also remember people just talking to people outside in society anyways before the internet. So now I thought again, maybe society has changed as I got older this much. I pushed the thought aside, after all it had been a few days and it didn't really matter anymore.
A bit later as the days went by, I started to notice how people responded to each other when we went out places, like how in cars, or buses people don't like to talk to each other unless necessary. Only, if in some kind of common place, like a coffee shop, or a park or something, people still do talk to people they don't know, I mean, thats how you make friends isn't it? I came to the conclusion that were talking to people at all the wrong places. Its not that people don't want to be talked to, its that their are times when its just awkward, and uneasy for both sides. I feel like it would be a hundred times easier to talk to people if we went to a city, park, or beach or somewhere where people are just hanging out next time to do interviews, and I bet more people will be able to do the assignment quicker, and easier.
We were told to take public transit on the Sprinter Train, and while we were on it, we were to gather three different interviews from different people. The questions we asked were along the lines of finding out what our person was doing that day, how what they were doing effected their lives, what movement meant to them, and a few others questions. From these questions it was hoped to get some kind of story out of them about their life.
Kelly, where are your Interviews?
Me and my partner managed to only get one interview while on the train, and even then, it was very one sided and the person we interviewed gave us one-two worded answers and refused to build on anything he said. I normally would have thought we just didn't do well enough asking him questions, but than I remembered the first time we did interviews at the bus station weeks before. The interview me and my group got the first time was also very one sided, and the guy we talked to didn't elaborate on any of the questions we asked him, even when we tried to elaborate on his one worded answers he refused to go into depth. This all got me thinking about the society we live in right now, but ill talk about that later.
Why didn't you get all three interviews on the train?
I can promise, and swear on my life that we tried our absolute best to try to talk to more people, only I have severe social anxiety and i'm terrified of talking to people I don't know, and it makes it even worse for me if those are adults i've never seen before in my life. It got so bad on the train, that my partner and I ended up sitting next to someone for almost twenty minutes on the train, and couldn't manage to say a single word to them. I hope to try harder next time, as I feel awful that I couldn't fully complete the assignment.
What was that thing you mentioned about society earlier Kelly?
After going home almost empty handed from the train assignment, being me, I was trapped in my thoughts and got to thinking about the people we managed to talk to, and the people we were afraid to talk to. I ended up getting it stuck in my head that current society doesn't like to talk to people, as were mostly incased in technology and music. I remember someone we didn't interview, we didn't talk to because they were huddled up in the corner of the train with headphones in and they did not look like they wanted to be bothered. I also thought about if I was on the receiving end of our project, and was in public somewhere and if someone wanted me to answer questions, would I have said yes or have been slightly annoyed? The obvious answer for me was yes, I would have been annoyed and wouldn't want to answer questions, knowing that i'm an introvert who doesn't typically like people.
Later in the week I asked adults I knew what they thought about my theory about society changing this way. They all disagreed with me, and said it was probably just the people we saw and talked to, and they made fair arguments why, and said other things about what we were supposed to learn from this experience, etc. Than, me needing at least someone on my side, I asked a bunch of my friends, some from our school who did the project, and a ton who didn't go to this school. Everyone my age agreed with me. So now I understood that clearly, it must be the way people think about the world, and the way people grew up with it that could effect peoples opinions on my little debate. I got to thinking about how I grew up when around people, and tried to figure out why I don't like to talk to people, trying to trace it back to some kind of experience as a kid. I realized, I don't have an experience like that, in fact, I remember people, and strangers always talking to me as a kid. I also remember people just talking to people outside in society anyways before the internet. So now I thought again, maybe society has changed as I got older this much. I pushed the thought aside, after all it had been a few days and it didn't really matter anymore.
A bit later as the days went by, I started to notice how people responded to each other when we went out places, like how in cars, or buses people don't like to talk to each other unless necessary. Only, if in some kind of common place, like a coffee shop, or a park or something, people still do talk to people they don't know, I mean, thats how you make friends isn't it? I came to the conclusion that were talking to people at all the wrong places. Its not that people don't want to be talked to, its that their are times when its just awkward, and uneasy for both sides. I feel like it would be a hundred times easier to talk to people if we went to a city, park, or beach or somewhere where people are just hanging out next time to do interviews, and I bet more people will be able to do the assignment quicker, and easier.