My Personal Bubble

Filipinos are touchy people. We love to hug, to hold hands, or just to put our arms around our family and friends. This is our way of telling our loved ones how much we love them, how much we care for them, and that we appreciate their presence in our lives.

Touch sometimes replaces talk. This is especially true to Filipino families wherein the family culture itself represses talk and dialogue. As a result, emotions are repressed and are often shown through touch.

But what if this culture of touch invades someone else's personal space?

This concern can be addressed by understanding the concept of proxemics. Proxemics refers to the type of non-verbal communication that is concerned with the physical space that an individual builds between himself and the person he/she is interacting with. People's need for 'personal space' or what is sometimes referred to as 'personal bubble' is a normal behavior of human beings. The amount of space needed or what a person perceives belongs to him/her depends on social norms, situational factors, personality characteristics, and level of familiarity. Distance between two persons during a casual conversation usually varies between 18 inches to four feet. But when a person talks before a crowd, the usual distance is around 10 to 12 feet.