{"id":80831,"date":"2017-10-05T12:26:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T10:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=80831"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:51","slug":"space-separates-our-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/10\/05\/space-separates-our-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"Space separates our minds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Recently I have been suffering from a splinter in my head, which prods into my thoughts when I\u2019m on the metro, on my way to the university. \u201cAre we still living in the same world?\u201d I will ask myself whenever I look at my fellow commuters.<\/p>\n

The majority of them are busy staring at small screens. They don\u2019t look up from their screens, much less meet a fellow commuter\u2019s eye. Of course, this is nothing new, but I do wonder where this type of behaviour came from. Maybe this phenomenon quietly snuck into our habits during the course of history.<\/p>\n

I myself mainly see cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard\u2019s absurd propositions become reality when I observe my fellow commuters. According to this man\u2019s somewhat fatalistic notions, we are living in a hyper reality, since our realities are being determined by screens. Our telephones are constantly being optimised to create a better connection between people \u2013 that is, greater connectedness in an online world. Things that happen on our phones are brought to life, but at the same time, the lives of other people \u2013 for instance, the persons sitting next to us on the metro \u2013 disappear from view.<\/p>\n

Above the entrance to Rotterdam Central Station\u2019s metro station, there is a quote by Erasmus: \u201cSpace separates our bodies, but not our minds.\u201d Ironically, things actually appear to be the other way round in reality. During the rush hour in particular, there is hardly any space separating people\u2019s bodies, but their minds are clearly miles apart from each other.<\/p>\n

I can be standing right next to someone and yet experience a tremendous distance. The number of screens around me is stopping me from striking up a friendly conversation with the person seated next to me. So I will quickly crawl back into my own cocoon, thinking, \u201cI may just ride my bike to uni tomorrow.\u201d But the next morning, I will bravely find my way to the metro again, if only to see if Erasmus was right, in order to blithely continue my quest for connectedness.<\/p>\n

Because if any place could do with slightly more connected minds, it is the metro.<\/p>\n

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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