Have you ever been on a bus with people standing, and yet there were empty seats? Have you ever been to the computer lab and seen people walk past empty computer after empty computer so they could find a spot alone at their desk? Have you ever sat down next to someone at the airport, when they all-of-a-sudden look at their watch and stand up to move? I find it humorous that we are so hypersensitive about people popping our personal bubble. Isn’t it funny that we live in one of the ’so called’ friendliest places in the world, and yet we go into cardiac arrest if we have to sit next to a stranger? We can climb mountains, date strangers, give talks in church, and drive on the perilous Utah freeways but we can’t sit between two people at the movie theater.
As I write this post, I am sitting on the 4th floor of the BYU Library in the computer lab. When I entered the lab with my friends Maija-Liisa and Kimberly, we found that nearly half of the computers were unoccupied. To our surprise, however, we could not find two vacant computers one beside the other. The lab looked like a giant checkerboard of occupied and unoccupied computers. When I sat down at a computer, my new neighbors looked at me in shock and frustration! They now had to move papers out of my bubble so as not to offend me, and I had to smile and apologize for putting pressure on their comfort zone. How DARE I sit next to them? How dare I share their air, and listen to the tikkity tack of their keyboards? Yet as I sit watching the cloud of bitterness form over my desk buddy, something catches my eye. I look over my shoulder and over my monitor and I see two separate couples… neither of which can keep their hands off of their mate. It’s either one extreme or the other, isn’t it? If you ask me we are definitely living a social faux pas.
I recently heard something interesting that goes along with our privacy perplexity. My brother is serving a mission in Goiania Brazil. In Goiania the city councel recently passed a bill to provide all female busses during rush hour. The reason they offer this new luxury is to prevent the amount of groping and sexual harassment on public transportation. I just thought I’d leave this article up here to show how silly we sometimes are, and how good we’ve really got it //www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15772398/. Let me know what you think.
The Power We Have »« The W.C.
While I see your point, I, for one, don’t mind the “personal bubble.” I’ve had mine for years, and it has protected me from unpleasant smells and uncomfortable touching many times, for which I am extremely grateful. 
Your computer lab experience is like using a public urinal - find one that isn’t near anyone. http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/urinal.php
This game is the mentor for millions of people training their “bubble” It could probably be modified easily to reflect which computer to use at the BYU computer lab.
-jon sanderson
http://www.areallygoodname.com
PS. Looks like you guys might have a new boss soon over there in support services- “no nazi no nazi no nazi”
I, for one, have often had the opposite problem. I’ve had lots of people get mad at me for standing to close to them while i’m talking, or not being afraid to sit next to them. I think I have a “reverse bubble” where I’m uncomfortable if i’m not inside someone else’s bubble.
After a recent trip to Tiananmen Square in Beijing out guide told us that the square held 1,000,000 Chinese or 500,000 Americans. Maybe it’s an American thing?
Maybe the tour guide thinks Americans are fat.
As for the bubble thing, how exactly do you fix this problem?
