For this exercise, I chose to break the norm of walking on the right side of the hallway and using the right door while entering and exiting a building. This norm has been formed to keep order in crowded hallways and avoid running into other people while walking from place-to-place. This norm upholds the values of creating order in crowded spaces, as well as obeying people’s personal space and boundaries. This norm is common in American society because it assures that people walk in an organized fashion and can get where they are going without running into others. When this norm was broken, the flow of traffic in the hallways and stairwells was interrupted and it was more difficult for people to get where they were going in an efficient manner. …show more content…
While my friends were quick to say “what are you doing?” and “where are you going?”, other people were not as vocal about their opinions. Although this norm is in no way a taboo, it is a silent rule that people follow to make their lives easier. Overall, although nothing major happened as a result of my breaking this norm, it was uncomfortable nevertheless. One of the hardest parts about breaking this norm was trying to conceal my own emotion and not apologize for what I was doing. While I was breaking the norm, I felt extremely uncomfortable and constantly wanted to apologize to those around me because I knew how much of an inconvenience I was for everyone in the hall. I definitely felt out of place and wanted nothing more than to run back to the right side of the hall and act like everything was normal. I also became a little paranoid while violating this norm because for all my life, I was taught to walk on the right side. This norm was instilled in me very early on because my elementary school lined the hallways with tape designating the “left” and the “right”, so that students would walk on the correct side. Although I knew a lot of people couldn’t care less about what I was doing, I felt like I was still being judged simply because I usually take this norm very