Touch: Then and now

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To me one of the most interesting aspects of touch is what it means from person to person and from culture to culture. When I read Constance Classen's The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch I was struck by her very first passage in chapter one. In this chapter she describes how important touch and close contact was for communities during the medieval era. Almost all communication at the time would have been done in close proximity with others. Because many people couldn't read or write, the distance people could be from each other to still communicate was limited by how far they could yell. To be farther than that was to be almost completely alone, save for the nature around you and your own thoughts. To be "close" to someone in the figurative sense was inextricably linked to how physical distance.

21 Long Distance Friendship Gifts To Express Your Love From Afar ... It also made me think about how significantly this has changed to where we are today. Some of my friends are very touchy-feely, while others want almost no physical contact at all. I think there are a few reasons for this. One is the advancements that have been made in communication technology. Thanks to the internet, two people can become best friends without even having seen each others faces, let alone having met in person and having touched each other. I am constantly talking to my friends, even when I haven't seen some of them in months. Figurative closeness is no longer linked to physical closeness (or the link isn't nearly as strong as it once was). 
Another reason for this is the relative wealth of people in the modern day compared to medieval life. Now it is normal for people to own a house with a separate bedroom for each child on top of rooms for the kitchen, living room, etc. Yards with fences between on house and the next are almost the base expectation when looking at a suburban house. Everybody wants privacy. 

I think the last reason that came to my mind when explaining the huge difference can be demonstrated with this short video:


Even just physical closeness has become sexualized in modern society and, as we all know, that is "taboo".

Comments

  1. Emily EmburyMay 5, 2020 at 11:36 AM

    I think your point about how technology impacts how we define "closeness" is really interesting to think about especially with our current situation. Now that we can't have that physical closeness and we are relying on technology to stay close to people I think people may have a newfound appreciation for both physical closeness and the connections that technology allows us to make.

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