AMERICAN VALUES AND ASSUMPTIONS
-by Gary Althen

PRIVACY

[Summary]

‘Privacy’ is greatly important values of behavior for Americans like the importance of individualism. They think people take a respite or recover their body and energy when they are sitting alone and having own time. Besides, American people are tending to not be able to understand and think weak when people always want to stay with someone else and afraid of being alone. For American people, no matter where they are such as rooms or offices, they always draw boundaries in their mind even though the places are opened, so if somebody pass over that line, it might make person, who draw that line, feel irritated.

[Personal Response]

I think American people are likely to have their own time even when they are sitting at the coffee shop. In Korea, now it is getting okay and easy to find someone who sits alone.
However, even a year ago, it was pretty hard to find someone sit in a public places and eat or do something-except library-. I think this behavior of American people is closely related to Individualism. People either understand and respect whatever a person is having own time, or just nor care about them, which is good because we do not need to care about other’s frown or concern and have my own free time.