Frank Experiment

To be frank, I did not want to do this experiment at first because I am not clear about what should I do when I am doing nothing. However, I tried it, but it was hard. I chose to stand outside a popular dessert house in Sawtelle. Before I began my experiment, I looked around. There was an endless stream of traffic and a flock of people. Then I started. For the first three times, I could not help laughing out after 2-3 minutes. I found out that even if I kept my body still, my mind is still processing. Therefore, I tried many times until I succeeded. Nevertheless, when I was doing the experiment, I still found it tough.
There were people passing by me one after another, but no one talked to me. It is probably that they got their own businesses to deal with so that they did not even notice me. Also, if they notice me, they only focus on me for a fleeting moment and then turn back to their own life …show more content…
I think that was the longest ten minutes that I have ever had before, for I was doing nothing and every second/minute seems to be many times slower than usual. This feeling of unease comes from the inconsistence of my behavior with other pedestrians’. It has been a long time period since people began to live a busy life. As Kenneth said, “One of the great clauses buried deep in our “social contract” is the unquestionable proviso, IT IS BETTER TO DO SOMETHING THAN NOTHING.” (44) Workers walk fast and are always busy with their work. Similarly, housewives are busy with housework, for example, cooking and laundry. As a result, it even forms a sort of common sense that the normal form for a person who is within the society is working, or to put it simpler—moving. Since I was idle, I violated the invisible social order without even noticed it. And that is the reason why I felt so uncomfortable at that time. But anyway, I enjoy this experiment after I finished it because it gave me an opportunity to stop and