Personal Space

I grew up in Iowa where physically, there was a lot of open frontier space. Inversely, the three months I spent in Costa Rica I experienced a 'breach' in my personal bubble where the people behind me in lines were close enough that I could feel their breath on my neck. Additionally, I've traveled to Bangkok, Thailand where the population for the city alone is 64 million. Each, vastly different.

Boing Boing guest blogger, Charles Platt asks “To what extent do we feel overcrowded, as a species? I’m not talking about resources; just psychological factors.” Do we ever think about personal space or is it something Americans take for granted? I believe it's a mix between sociological factors and the physical space that is left around us, that we're lucky (or not so) to experience. GOOD Magazine wrote about personal space, via Boing Boing and graphed personal space by each country. Take a look, it might surprise you.


What kind of personal space do you desire? Do you live in a small studio in a crowded city like NYC? Are you just looking for the freedom to roam? Does this affect us mentally and physically?