As we discussed the other week in class, the US functions on a monochromic time table. We discussed how we are set around the clock and are use to checking things off a list. This is so true of my time spent here thus far. All I do is look at the time and the calendar figuring when I have time to travel, travel plan, homework, class, eat, facebook, laundry, sleep, keep up with people at home, and socialize here. I’ve never been so focused on time in my life! I am obsessed about when to do everything! I’ve never been much of a planner or organized. I feel like I’m becoming my mother living by my calendar, crossing things off. Yikes! But I’m sure it’s a good thing! I googled monochromic time and found a chart that distinguishes between monochromic and polychromic people, and my whole life have definitely been a polychromic person who does many things at once, highly distractible and subject to interruptions, consider time commitments to be objective, more about relationships than the job, and changes plans often and easily. I find this way of life definitely does not work here. I have really had to focus on one task at a time and stick to the plan written in my calendar. I have been GO-GO-GO since I’ve been here! Unfortunately because of this, I feel like I haven’t been really able to soak up a lot of culture or truly explore Oxford.
Back to the difference in monochromic cultures vs. polychromic cultures, I definitely understand that the society we are use to definitely lives by the clock and by how fast tasks are accomplished. I’ve definitely had moments here where I don’t feel like England works by a different time table. When the porter’s lodge laundry card machine was not working at the beginning of our stay here, they were basically like we’ll probably have it fixed by early afternoon tomorrow and then of course it was not. In America, people would not put up with things like that. Also the other night after dinner a friend and I were out after dinner running some errands and realized everything was closed and most places had the oddest opening and closing times like opening at 7:15am everyday and a lot of stores were open later on Thursday nights randomly. Plus I don’t know how many times I have heard on an overheard intercom or read on a sign: “Sorry for any inconveniences this may cause you” as trains run late or facilities are closed. It happens back home but definitely not as frequently. I think people here just do not feel the need to get things done instantly like we expect back home. Orientating yourself to different ways of life and time tables is definitely part of the cultural experience of studying abroad!
Advances in technology have caused Americans to become more polychromatic.
ReplyDeleteWe used to have to watch television shows when they were broadcast. Now, DVRs allow us to record programs and watch them anytime. Instead of talking on the phone at any certain time, we might choose a form of asynchronous communication that allows for flexibility of schedule.
Not only that, but these technologies certainly facilitate the actions of multitasking. As obsessed as many of us are with timeliness, the immediacy of mobile devices and the Internet has shrunk the gap between plan and action.