Yesterday, I decided to violate someone’s personal bubble. I
approached one of my friends and struck up a conversation. However, instead of
standing a few feet away, like a normal person, I stood right next to him so
that my face was a few inches away from his.
His instantaneous reaction was to back away. He pretended
that it was just some sort of accident and tried his best to continue the
conversation as if nothing happened. However, I followed him as he stepped
backwards, so I was still in his face. Then he got annoyed and asked me what I
thought I was doing. I answered him saying, “I’m just having a chat with you.”
He asked me, “but why are you so close to me?”
“Well what’s wrong with me being close to you?”
“It’s uncomfortable”
“Why is it uncomfortable?”
“It just is!”
After seeing that he was getting angry, I backed off and
told him that it was something I was supposed to do for this class. We both
laughed it off afterwards. I thought it was interesting how my friend was
unable to explain why he felt so uncomfortable when I was so close to him. Why
do we have a personal bubble? Speaking from an evolutionary perspective, it could be
for safety reasons, so it gives you time to react should anything suddenly
attack you.
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