I had similar reactions to my second set of observations as
my first. In my eyes, this is a good thing because I’m focusing on two topics
within studying Beef Barn, that I would like to see consistent results with. One
topic is one that continues to disturb me everywhere I go! It is crazy watching
people use their cell phones EVERYWHERE! It’s disturbing watching people go out
to eat to enjoy their meal with good company-but only look at their phone the
entire time. This time there was a group of younger people and a group of older
people, which made it clear where the problem is. The younger generations are
getting more and more addicted to technology, specifically cell phones. It’s
sad when they do not feel comfortable talking face to face to people anymore,
or not even feel comfortable talking on the phone because they are so used to
just texting people, barely using full sentences. Something that intrigued me
relates back to my second main topic I’m interested in, which is the trend
behind different food cultures. It’s so interesting that there are trends
between each culture. For example, relating back to food, people can study the
average time people eat their meals, the amount of meals per day people eat,
how large those meals are, etc. It intrigued me that by visiting the site at 4 pm,
I could assume that it wouldn’t be the dinner rush yet and it would be busier
when I left. I also predicted maybe there would be people hanging out from
school, because the high school is up the road from the Beef Barn. It’s cool
that most Americans have predicted times they eat, and other cultures may have
different predicted times they usually eat. You can learn a lot about a culture
by observing the amount of people who eat at a certain time. It surprised me that
no one really cared what I was doing. I didn’t have any situations where people
were interested in what I was writing about as I looked around. I know if I was
eating there and saw someone with a notebook writing stuff, I’d be interested in
what they were doing. Maybe I’m just more suspicious than others? :) Overall, I’m
glad I noticed the same trends as my last observations.
Katie: The cell phone phenomenon is definitely something you need to pursue. Specifically, I'd like to read about it in more detail. Who is using their phones and how are they using them: looking up at the people they're with and then down again at the phone, repeatedly? Looking exclusively at the phone in the company of friends? Pretending not to check the phone but checking the phone in "secret?" Using the phone as a social mediator--to show photos to others, to record funny videos together, to share emails, texts, whatever? I'd like you to start paying specific attention to the nuances of this blatent public cell phone use: What does it look like at the Beef Barn? Do people get food bits all over their phones because they need to have them on the table at all times? Phones are so germy and gross that it kind of grosses me out to think about touching the phone and then your food and then the phone and, and, and...So, go back to the Beef Barn (even though I'm not requiring additional sets of fieldnotes) and pay attention specifically to the behaviors and categories of users and abusers of cell phones. Remember Rick Zollo's study and how he figures out all the different subcultures within the truck stop? I bet that within the culture of the cell-phone addicted there are several types of people. Maybe it can be your job as a researcher to figure out what they are and classify them, like exotic species of insects (!)
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