WALK 6

Walk 6: With(in) Daily Life


The “performance” I created to experiment with(in) my daily life was to speak more quietly than normal in a situation. I chose to do this during a gathering that I attended with family members and friends. I thought this would be the perfect experiment for me since I am known by my family and friends for normally speaking at a much louder volume. Family members have always commented on how I have always spoken at a higher level since I was a kid. I started by greeting everyone with a low hello. No one commented on how low I was speaking. I think it was because everyone was saying hello to each other, so they didn’t notice that I was speaking lower than normal. It became more noticeable when people started speaking directly to me and I responded in a very low voice. Initially, no one said anything, but I could tell by the look on their faces that they were wondering if something was wrong with me. As I continued to have conversations with people, I would get asked, “Jonathan what did you say?” or “Say that again.” I felt very uncomfortable because this is not how I normally interact with my family, and I could tell that they started feeling uncomfortable. Finally, after a while of me speaking in a quieter voice people started asking, “What’s wrong with you?”, “Are you okay?”, and “Do you feel okay?” I assured them that I was fine and there was nothing wrong with me. I even noticed some people asking my mom if I was okay. Soon people stopped initiating conversations with me and only talked to me when it was necessary. I felt bad because I couldn’t interact with them like I usually do and how I wanted to. I also think they felt bad because even though I said I was fine, I think they still thought that something was wrong with me. I wanted to record their reactions, but I did not want to break my performance and have someone ask why I was recording them. It wasn’t until later when I got home that I told my family what was going on. They were very relieved that I was doing this for an assignment and that there was nothing wrong with me. As I thought, even though I said I was fine they still thought that something was wrong that was causing me to not speak in my normal loud voice. This experiment was interesting because it made me realize that changing even something minor can change the experience you have in a familiar situation in your daily life. 


Comments

  1. Megan SchererJuly 4, 2025 at 9:50 AM

    Wow, this is a very powerful reaction from your family. For your family to end up feeling the way that you were portraying is a big thing. It mean's that your interaction with your family on a normal day is a light in the room. I would think its so funny if you only chose one word to say really loudly. I have no idea if it would be a name, or a verb, but I think your family would think its just plain weird, and know something funny is going on, instead of potentially worrying them. Also, did you ever tell them that this performance was for a project?

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  2. Kiara ImblumJuly 4, 2025 at 10:47 PM

    Hi Jonathan,
    I can totally relate to what you chose to do for your experiment. I too have always spoken louder in my family. If I were to change anything about the way I act in front of my family, I feel like they would act very similar to how your family reacted. Maybe to change this, You could alter the tone of voice occasionally. Maybe you could speak loudly and slowly with some family members and then softly with others. That, or maybe you could alter it every minute! That way it helps with variation and maybe would help your family not think you were being closed off. That being said, I think the performance you chose to do still made the way you interact with the world change.

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