Interacting with the world around us
30 Jul 2004 
in mid-afternoon 
Matt Winckler
A few moments ago, I clumsily dropped a hefty piece of equipment, making a dramatic thud crash. I work in a cubicle where you can hear coworkers typing away at keyboards and everything, so I’m sure several people heard it. I was silent, expecting somebody to ask “What happened? Are you okay?” Nobody did. And then I started wondering: if I suddenly succumbed and fell unconscious or died at my desk, and slipped off my chair and made a thud, how long would it be before I was discovered? I’m not in direct line of sight with any coworkers. I have been overlooked before by passersby while lying prone under my desk working on a computer.
This can be extrapolated into our general everyday interaction with the world. Think about it: what would you do if you found somebody lying on the ground in front of a park bench? What if he was standing on the corner of the street, hand clutching his chest, leaning against the streetlamp pole?
I recall seeing a study while I was in college about exactly this sort of thing, where they had people in two separate rooms divided by a thin wall. One person would shout or cry out or make a large crash, and the researchers would track how the other person reacted. I don’t remember the exact results (and my attempts to Google for it failed), but I do recall being surprised at the low number of people that even shouted to check to see if the other guy was ok, let alone the people that actually got up and went in search of the “victim”.
It’s also interesting to note how little we really observe while walking around. I’ve been shocked at some of the things I miss even when just walking around the house–big things sometimes, like whether there’s another person in the room. As Sherlock Holmes would put it, I see, but I do not observe. Another example is landscape while driving. Pay close attention to the landscape on your way home from work. (But still pay attention to the road, too!) After ten years of commuting to and from my parents’ house, I still occasionally glance out the window and see a landscape I’ve never observed before.
Try spending a day or two paying attention to as many details as you can, and see how much you’re missing. You might be surprised!