The Solution to Improving Your Commute Is Only One Seat Away

neighborr
neighborr
Sep 8, 2018 · 3 min read

By: Walter Godinez, Co-Founder, neighborr

As Native New Yorkers, we’ve spent our entire lives riding the New York City subway system and one thing that has always stuck out to us has been the lack of talk among subway riders. We all know that humans are the most social creatures and want to feel part of a community but surprisingly we instinctively take actions that keep us socially isolated in the face of people that we do not know (especially in cities). After some research into why public transit riders don’t talk to one another in trains, we learned a few things.

Nicholas Epley, a professor at the University of Chicago conducted a series of experiments in Chicago’s famous public transportation system with the goal of learning why Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) commuters heading to downtown Chicago forego social interaction on the train.

After a series of experiments, Epley and his team derived interesting conclusions:

  1. While there is no change in productivity in talking to strangers, commuters reported feeling happier and enjoying their commuting experience more when talking to strangers.
  2. Riders misunderstood the consequences of distant social connections; they overestimated how tough it was to initiate a conversation and held the belief that a stranger would not want to speak with them.

Epley and his team conducted a series of 9 experiments in a lab and out on the field. Some highlights below:

Experiment # 1 — A group of Metra train and bus passengers were divided into three groups:

  1. Group 1 was instructed to talk to their neighbors
  2. Group 2 was instructed to keep to themselves
  3. Group 3 was instructed to follow their regular morning routine

Those in conversations rated having the most positive train ride and those in solitude reported having the most negative train ride. Among those who talked, the longer the conversation the more positive they felt the ride was. There were no differences in productivity so either people are not very productive in public transit or speaking to a stranger did not reduce their productivity.

Experiment # 2 — A different set of commuters were instructed to imagine taking part in the first experiment and share their perceived results. Participants predicted that talking to a stranger would make for the least positive experience and the least productive. The opposite of the actual results! Commuters were overestimating the social awkwardness of starting up a conversation with a stranger.

Experiment # 3 — Commuters were instructed to imagine having a conversation with a stranger and rate the interaction. Overall, they expected the conversation to be pleasant but when asked about initiating the conversation they perceived that aspect to be very difficult and they predicted that fewer than half of their neighbors would respond back. This perceived notion that we are bothering others by engaging in small talk suggests that we are scared to initiate conversations with strangers because of our natural insecurities.

Experiment # 4 — Research assistants asked three separate groups of travelers waiting for cabs at an airport to:

  1. Talk to their driver
  2. Not talk to their driver
  3. Follow their normal routine

Those who said that they don’t normally talk to their driver predicted that their silence would be more pleasant than talking and those who normally talk to their driver predicted that talking would be more pleasant than silence. In conclusion, those that talked and stayed silent reported enjoying talking and the loners mistakenly feared interaction.

Experiment # 5 — What about those people who were being talked to? Did they feel invaded? The team asked them for their reactions and overwhelmingly, the response was that they deemed the conversation positively.

Experiments like the ones conducted by Professor Epley and his team are important because they illustrate that talking to strangers goes a long way in creating a more enjoyable urban experience. As humans, we mistakenly choose solitude over interaction and as the social isolation epidemic continues, we must begin to explore facilitating the interaction between strangers.

At neighborr, we believe that reducing social isolation in cities is just one door away. By providing nudges in the form of a platform we unleash community among neighbors in residential buildings.

neighborr

Written by

neighborr

let’s reduce social isolation in cities. www.neighborrapp.com

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