After every floor meeting, the residents of 4B stay and talk. I saw this Thursday’s meeting as my perfect opportunity to naturally observe people. As I watched the conversation unfold,  I noticed something very interesting. Every single person had their phone in their hand the entire time. No matter how invested in the conversation they seemed, they still periodically texted and checked their notifications. This is a trend that has become more and more noticeable over time. People are paying more attention to these inanimate objects and people in other places than the people that were sitting right there in front of them in real time. 

I also noticed that there were people that were very involved in the conversation, and others that were less interested in talking and mostly just following along. It was very evident who had outgoing personalities or felt comfortable in the room. Two or three people out of the ten in the room were actively engaging and speaking up. These people were the ones in control of the whole situation. They moved the conversation from topic to topic. About four or five others remained paying attention, and chimed in from time to time, which showed they were still slightly engaged, and maybe just thinking of other things. The remainder of the group tended to stay quiet, and paid much more attention to their phones, and didn’t really talk, but mostly seemed to be following. I found myself in the middle group. Although I knew everyone, I wasn’t as comfortable with everyone as some may have been.

Overall, I find interest in this assignment, as it showed me a typical group dynamic. I never realized before how often in even just a regular conversational setting how there is a main group that is in control, then the following groups that aren’t fully present.