I've always been struck by how little Torontonians smile during the winter. As a native Californian, smiling/grinning/laughing is a default emotional setting in everyday life. It's quite common for strangers to exude positive vibes at the grocery store, in line at the movies, or while riding around on public transit. Of course, one big exception is the bottleneck traffic along the 405 in LA, but I digress...
Anyways, I've always felt that Torontonians are somewhat cold in their outward affect, particularly when it gets cold, dark, and slushy. It's not that people are scowling or frowning. It's more that they have this serious, morose look on their faces. For whatever reason, I'm very sensitive to this and feel the general emotional energy of settings whenever I enter into them.
Today, I decided to do an on the spot survey of people's emotional expressions within a Sobey's near my apartment. I know you social scientists out there are rolling your eyes at my sampling bias, but just humor me here with a little everyday sociological fun.
Here are the results:
I counted a total of 63 people inside the Sobey. It was approximately 3:30pm and I made one full walk through the grocery store and looked down all of the aisles. This count includes both customers and staff.
3/63 (5%) were smiling. 1 was Vanessa, my smiley and eternally optimistic Portuguese wife. I told her that I was doing this survey and she made sure to smile extra widely. I told her that she was skewing my results, but she didn't care. I went back and forth, but ultimately decided to count her, since she was smiling before the survey officially started.
1 staff member was smiling after a coworker told him a joke. Interestingly, the guy telling the joke wasn't smiling. 1 other customer was smiling. And that's it. Aisles and aisles of people were walking around with mini-frowns on their faces. Now, it could be the case that these people were stressed or that they were going through real life stuff. I totally understand this and don't begrudge them for not feeling great or expressing joy outwardly. But, many others are just scowling because they're stressed about something that's probably not a huge deal in the big picture. Or, they're scowling because it's a hot mess outside.
Whatever the case, this is way too low, Toronto. Let's break this trend and spread good vibes even when it's shitty out. Researchers have found that the physical act of smiling tricks the brain into feeling happy--it's a natural way of reducing stress. And emotions aren't just individual feelings; they are contagious and spread. So, let's make it a point to spread good vibes. If you read this, go out and smile at someone. They might look at you like you're kinda weird, but they might also start smiling...
Today, I decided to do an on the spot survey of people's emotional expressions within a Sobey's near my apartment. I know you social scientists out there are rolling your eyes at my sampling bias, but just humor me here with a little everyday sociological fun.
Here are the results:
I counted a total of 63 people inside the Sobey. It was approximately 3:30pm and I made one full walk through the grocery store and looked down all of the aisles. This count includes both customers and staff.
3/63 (5%) were smiling. 1 was Vanessa, my smiley and eternally optimistic Portuguese wife. I told her that I was doing this survey and she made sure to smile extra widely. I told her that she was skewing my results, but she didn't care. I went back and forth, but ultimately decided to count her, since she was smiling before the survey officially started.
1 staff member was smiling after a coworker told him a joke. Interestingly, the guy telling the joke wasn't smiling. 1 other customer was smiling. And that's it. Aisles and aisles of people were walking around with mini-frowns on their faces. Now, it could be the case that these people were stressed or that they were going through real life stuff. I totally understand this and don't begrudge them for not feeling great or expressing joy outwardly. But, many others are just scowling because they're stressed about something that's probably not a huge deal in the big picture. Or, they're scowling because it's a hot mess outside.
Whatever the case, this is way too low, Toronto. Let's break this trend and spread good vibes even when it's shitty out. Researchers have found that the physical act of smiling tricks the brain into feeling happy--it's a natural way of reducing stress. And emotions aren't just individual feelings; they are contagious and spread. So, let's make it a point to spread good vibes. If you read this, go out and smile at someone. They might look at you like you're kinda weird, but they might also start smiling...
I think you might want to consider the time of day. 3:30...parents are shopping before the kids come home from school, so may be feeling rushed to go home and cook for their brood before hockey lessons or some other activity, the weather is a problem too knowing you just navigated it and will have to after shopping, plus who smiles while grocery shopping? Most people just want to make sure they don't forget anything so they don't have to go out again. Let's try a different venue at a different time of day! -mother of 3
ReplyDeleteI knew somebody was going to get all sociological on me! I agree about some of these variations, but I've noticed this pretty consistently in various settings. I see it on the streetcar at non-rush hour times of the day; I also see it walking around campus or at other places like Tim Horton's or restaurants. There's exceptions to this rule, of course. My jiu jitsu gym and colleagues are all very friendly and smiley, but I would feel comfortable hypothesizing that you will not find a public setting with more than 10% of the present smiling in winter. The cold, grey weather really makes people turn inward and casts this gloom over the city.
Delete