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I didn't know under which heading to post this so I decided this place might be the closets. I think that there should be a place for general social issues and events etc. Anyway to the point I was going to make: I remember back in the 70s and 80s (before cell phones and computers) people used to go downtown for the simple fun of people watching. Many people would do that. It was fun and exciting to see how people carried themselves and guessing what they might be up to. The point is people noticed each other. Fast forward to today: No one even looks at anyone as they are walking or standing or whatever. Usually they are pecking away at their cell phones or talking to someone on their phones but I read that 20% of the people that you see talking on the cell phone aren't really talking to anyone. So they are trying to appear as talking to someone for some reason. Anyway people today are much different than back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if others notice that also. Maybe some people can add to this thread.
I didn't know under which heading to post this so I decided this place might be the closets. I think that there should be a place for general social issues and events etc. Anyway to the point I was going to make: I remember back in the 70s and 80s (before cell phones and computers) people used to go downtown for the simple fun of people watching. Many people would do that. It was fun and exciting to see how people carried themselves and guessing what they might be up to. The point is people noticed each other. Fast forward to today: No one even looks at anyone as they are walking or standing or whatever. Usually they are pecking away at their cell phones or talking to someone on their phones but I read that 20% of the people that you see talking on the cell phone aren't really talking to anyone. So they are trying to appear as talking to someone for some reason. Anyway people today are much different than back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if others notice that also. Maybe some people can add to this thread.
It depends on where you live or lived.when I first came to America in the 70’s going downtown to peoplewatch was a joke, the city was dead on weekends everyone was shuffling along in the indoor mall. on the other hand last year when I lived in a small touristy village there was still people watching.
Add to this there is a whole genre of people watching and street photography featured on various photography groups,websites. The art of people watching hasn’t disappeared,it’s just changed
And those of us walking around downtown were creeped out by all the people staring at us while we were just going about our business, but we couldn't do anything about it.
I didn't know under which heading to post this so I decided this place might be the closets. I think that there should be a place for general social issues and events etc. Anyway to the point I was going to make: I remember back in the 70s and 80s (before cell phones and computers) people used to go downtown for the simple fun of people watching. Many people would do that. It was fun and exciting to see how people carried themselves and guessing what they might be up to. The point is people noticed each other. Fast forward to today: No one even looks at anyone as they are walking or standing or whatever. Usually they are pecking away at their cell phones or talking to someone on their phones but I read that 20% of the people that you see talking on the cell phone aren't really talking to anyone. So they are trying to appear as talking to someone for some reason. Anyway people today are much different than back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if others notice that also. Maybe some people can add to this thread.
I think you meant "so I decided this place might be the closest" but your use of the word "closets" is a wonderful Freudian Slip in relation to the topic!
That is, then when people were in the closet and now, when they are not.
As to the topic, that depends for those people looking at their phones are easy targets while someone like me, head up, alert, well, as the lines to the song go............."those who feel me near, close their blinds and change their minds".
Me, I walk on alert and if I am training the mind, then it is working attack patterns on who is seen such as strike order for a group, strike points on individuals.
One of my "talents", if private, is my ability to recognize someone later in the day that I passed earlier, such as in a shopping mall.
Finally, the thing is about that is that I was doing it in the 80s as well.
So to bring some sort of answer to your question, I would say that if you were looking at the people in the 80s "like that", you still are. If, however, you learned "how to walk on the street" in this century, then you are probably following the patterns that were developed at that time.
Fast forward to today: No one even looks at anyone as they are walking or standing or whatever. Usually they are pecking away at their cell phones or talking to someone on their phones
I don't think this is as true as most people seem to think it is. People look at and notice other people; it's just maybe not a "hobby" to "people watch" anymore, and I'm not mad about it. But there have been many times when either I've been uncomfortable with someone staring at/watching me or I've seen/read someone describe noticing something about someone that just seems so tiny and just made me feel uncomfortable with the idea that someone could notice little things about me that I'd rather they not notice.
It's also a lot more fashionable now to look at/notice people but to pretend like you haven't been doing this and, thus, not get caught. And you can see people using peripheral vision.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nickerman
Anyway people today are much different than back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if others notice that also. Maybe some people can add to this thread.
Well, of course. There's too much to touch on to even know where to start. What bothers me about younger people/people born in the 90s and 2000s (and maybe late 80s...basically, millennials and onward) and their impact on people born before the 90s is 1) how they have completely messed up dating and relationships and 2) how much immoral and trashy stuff they think is completely acceptable, which is making a lot of immoral and trashy stuff acceptable in our society. And those two things do go together. I mean, "friends with benefits," sleeping with someone on the first date or without a date ever taking place at all, having kids with zero intention of ever marrying the person you're having kids with, each kid having a different mother/father combo, etc. Good luck finding a decent person who is looking for anything romantic, traditional and a true commitment nowadays, or who doesn't feel entitled to screwing you the very first time you spend any alone time together. And people seriously wonder why the idea of ever dating again is completely unappealing to me...
I didn't know under which heading to post this so I decided this place might be the closets. I think that there should be a place for general social issues and events etc. Anyway to the point I was going to make: I remember back in the 70s and 80s (before cell phones and computers) people used to go downtown for the simple fun of people watching. Many people would do that. It was fun and exciting to see how people carried themselves and guessing what they might be up to. The point is people noticed each other. Fast forward to today: No one even looks at anyone as they are walking or standing or whatever. Usually they are pecking away at their cell phones or talking to someone on their phones but I read that 20% of the people that you see talking on the cell phone aren't really talking to anyone. So they are trying to appear as talking to someone for some reason. Anyway people today are much different than back in the 70s and 80s. I wonder if others notice that also. Maybe some people can add to this thread.
Well, of course. There's too much to touch on to even know where to start. What bothers me about younger people/people born in the 90s and 2000s (and maybe late 80s...basically, millennials and onward) and their impact on people born before the 90s is 1) how they have completely messed up dating and relationships and 2) how much immoral and trashy stuff they think is completely acceptable, which is making a lot of immoral and trashy stuff acceptable in our society. And those two things do go together. I mean, "friends with benefits," sleeping with someone on the first date or without a date ever taking place at all, having kids with zero intention of ever marrying the person you're having kids with, each kid having a different mother/father combo, etc. Good luck finding a decent person who is looking for anything romantic, traditional and a true commitment nowadays, or who doesn't feel entitled to screwing you the very first time you spend any alone time together. And people seriously wonder why the idea of ever dating again is completely unappealing to me...
Gee like we weren't the first generation to indulge in our sexuality or were the lost generation, baby boomers, and X-ers all chaste saints?
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