2024-06-30 09:30:09
“Bubbles,” “social distancing,” “zoobirthday.” Just four years ago, these expressions were commonplace. The coronavirus pandemic was not only about the coronavirus and its health consequences, it also brought about a radical change in relationships, personal spaces, and the way we interact.
How many centimeters away do we sit, for example, when talking to a coworker? Have we returned to the same closeness as before the pandemic? What does all this mean?
Since 2020, the mantra of social distance has fallen very deeply into human relationships. In this framework, the language learning platform Preply carried out a study titled “Stop!, do not invade my space”, about the differences in social distance in countries before and after the pandemic, and the different magnitudes of space social.
The analysis concluded that all countries surveyed demanded more social space, except China. The five countries that demanded the most space were Brazil (with an increase of 92%), Austria (89%), Colombia (85%), Algeria (82%) and Sweden (70%).
The same survey determined that the country with the smallest personal space distance is Austria, with 71 centimetres, and the country with the largest personal space distance is Romania, with 139 centimetres. Argentina, meanwhile, was ranked 54th (out of a total of 56), with a distance of 76 centimetres.
Argentines have always been close
Most interpersonal communication is done without words: facial expressions, hand gestures and body language influence how the words we speak are perceived, and even give more information than them. This makes social and cultural conventions key when it comes to achieving effective communication.
Preply’s collection shows significant differences in the standard social distancing for communicating. Most cultures are changing the way they communicate effectively through body language and habits. However, Argentina has a long history of closeness and physical contact, which is difficult to erase even in the face of a pandemic.
According to the international study “Preferred Interpersonal Distances: A Global Comparison” published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, conducted among more than 8 thousand participants from 42 countries, Argentina leads the ranking of countries with the shortest physical distance when greeting or chatting with a person, even if it is a stranger, with 75 centimeters.
More than once, the kisses, hugs and constant rubbing that are already a personal mark of the local idiosyncrasy stand out. The distance and the “bubble”, whether with one’s own or others, is difficult in that context. The report presented by the University of Wroclaw also added that individual characteristics (age and gender) influence interpersonal space preferences, as well as temperatures in a given region.
Different types of distance: intimate, personal, social and public
Proxemics is a discipline or branch of semiotics dedicated to the study of the organization of space in human communication. It was the anthropologist Edward T. Hall who coined this term in the middle of the last century. Hall defined this phenomenon as “the way in which a man unconsciously structures his microspace, the interpersonal distance in daily interactions, the organization of the space in his homes and the design of his cities.”
This distance is also determined by culture and territoriality, and is made up of different magnitudes:
Intimate distance: with very close people and couples, it is the distance that occurs in the next phase between 0 and 45 centimeters.
Personal distance: between 45 and 125 centimeters, it is related to the communicative act of conversation, and it is the “personal bubble” with which we feel comfortable or uncomfortable if someone unexpectedly crosses it.
Social distance: more linked to social conventions such as work, events, transportation, restaurants, etc., it ranges between 1.25 meters and 3.5 meters in the distant phase.
Public distancing: beyond 4 metres, refers to social situations where space allows us to maintain privacy, for example in a park having a picnic.