Sitting and Seeing/Listening

Seeing: I went to watch C.L. Lindsay, a male speaker with a lot of knowledge and experience dealing with college students and the internet, at a campus event on Tuesday. This was about an hour long speech so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to sit and observe people in the audience. Yes, I listened to the speaker, but for part of the time I simply watched audience members watching this speaker. By doing this I noticed that most of the people make very subtle movements. People sit back in their chairs, nod their heads in agreement, and basically stare at C.L. Lindsay as if they were starring at the television. Then, when something is funny, some people laugh, some clap and laugh, and others just smile and nod their heads. Also, when listening and watching C.L. Lindsay, people tend to occasionally yawn, talk to the person next to them, and fidget around. The fidgeting that I saw included shaking one's foot, changing the way one was sitting, checking the time, and crossing and uncrossing one's leg. By only watching people in the audience I could tell what type of pictures were being shown - disturbing or funny - and I could tell if information being given was serious facts or more fun examples. It is amazing how much simply watching someone can tell you about what that person is actually watching/seeing.

Listening: I sat and listened for about ten minutes while in my dorm room. I heard various sounds throughout that time, but there is something about those sounds that are calming. They were not distracting or annoying. They were actually comforting. I was able to hear myself think and felt secure knowing that other people were around. I heard the fans blowing around cool air, my roommate writing down notes, the creaking of the fan as it rotated, and my roommate's phone go off. Occasionally, I would also hear someone walk down the hallway, a car door shut, or someone moving furniture around. I never realized how many different sounds occur at a single moment or within only a few minutes. After doing this activity I noticed that no matter where I am or what I am doing, I will always be able to hear some sort of sound - even if extremely subtle. And if I were to explain all the sounds that I heard during these ten minutes of purely listening without telling anyone I was in a dorm room, I believe that people could fairly easily depict where I was. It is amazing what our senses can pick up.