How do you feel about being in a huge crowd, like at a concert or a demonstration or whatever?
Personally, I hate it, and I avoid them at all costs. It doesn’t take long before I get stabby.
Depends on the crowd. I’ve been at JazzFest slogging through mud, elbow to elbow with drunken, happy folks and loved every minute.
But I’ve been standing in line at a crowded airport waiting to board, when someone has accidentally bumped me and I’ve glared at them.
If there’s going to be a crowd, I look for other things to do.
Hate crowds. Avoid whenever possible.
I have no feelings one way or another towards them.
Where I live, and the activities I participate in, huge crowds are a given. I navigate them just fine regardless of size.
I get stabby.
That said, I’m okay walking down a busy street in a big city. I think it’s the motion aspect. Long as I can keep moving relatively freely, I enjoy the process and the social experience.
It doesn’t bother me as long as i am inconspicuous and not required to draw any attention to myself, or make any overt gestures or shouts. It doesn’t bother me to be in a stadium with 50,000 other people regardless of which team I in favor of, as long as I can just quietly watch the game, and in fact it can be exhilirating to be there. But I would not join a crowd just for the purpose of showing support for a cause, and I feel very uncomfortable in a political protest, or in a church congregation, or at a funeral, where I am expected to be of like mind with the crowd…
From time to time (say 10 years) it is a great feeling to participate in mass humanity.
Polo Field in Golden Gate Park has some great memories of mine.
I used to not mind big crowds, but the older I get (I am currently 56), the less I like it. I deliberately avoid crowds at this point.
If I know beforehand there is going to be a crowd, like say a concert that I’m going to, I can deal with it, and maybe even like it. But generally I hate them and avoid them at all costs lest the baptism of blood sprays commences.
I prefer small groups or being alone but I’m fine with major huge crowds.
I hate all crowds, even medium-sized dinner parties. But I just signed up for my local Women’s March (in support of Women’s March on Washington) which sounds like it will be many thousands. Because it’s too important not to. I anticipate being violently ill afterwards, as I often am after such a sensory overload. I still am going.
Went with “something else” as for me it depends on the level of chaos.
Crowded dancefloor? No worries, the venue is designed for that, it’s what people expect.
But a situation where people are supposed to be queueing, but instead it’s a pile of people pushing and shoving? Or someone brings a delicious cake to work and people are reaching over each other to get at it, like zombies? I want no part of that.
NB I live in China.
I loved my five years in China, but there’s simply no way to avoid a crowd. When I first moved there I chose a community well outside the city and well away from the crowds (Chinese laughed and called it “the countryside”), and you know what those buggers did? They built things to attract crowds around me!
It was manageable, though. I did most of my tourism things in the off seasons, and I woke up to do my grocery shopping at 7:00 am on the weekends. I discovered a nice 65 to 80 km bicycle route (a couple of variations) that literally took me into the countryside (but even then, the countryside would fill up with cars during special events). Taobao and Amazon eliminated all need to ever go to a shopping center, except for social reasons (restaurants that people think are “good” are always on the food level of shopping malls).
When people ask me what it’s like to be home I always mention the clean air, water, and food, but perhaps I should mention how blissful it is not to have to contend with crowds. Leaving the JLA after a Wings game? That’s not a crowd!
Funny that’s actually what brought this up. We live just outside DC proper, my wife works downtown, and she wants to go to the Women’s March. As much as I hate Trump and love my wife and support women’s rights and all, I just can’t do it. I would if I had to, but she’s got relatives coming in to town for the March and we have friends going as well so I’m not sending her downtown alone.
I still might be a good husband and go with her, but if that happens we’re staying way on the outskirts of the crowd.
True that.
But what I was trying to say is it’s not the crowds it’s the chaos for me. I’d rather be standing in an orderly queue of 20 people than with 3-4 people all jostling for attention at a counter.
Unfortunately in china you get both big crowds and chaos.
I’m not crazy about being in a crowd, but it doesn’t bug me unless I’m having to keep someone else from being jostled. OTOH, I’m fairly good at crowds. I can make my way through a dense one pretty well.
My wife feels like crowds are dangerous, and she’s right. It doesn’t bother me when I’m in one because it’s exciting, and I often lack an immediate sense of self preservation at times like that.
Depends very highly on whether I’m trying to get to some place or if I’m already there and it just happens to be a crowded venue. I hate trying to walk through a crowd of people, everyone moves way too damn slow.
OK, another meaningful factor is whether or not I’m standing and have the perpetual sensation that I’m in someone’s way. I hate that. I have some kind of built-in “get out of people’s path” reaction. It doesn’t kick in when folks are all standing and no one is trying to get somewhere (bathroom, ticket window, refreshment table) but if people are trying to maneuver and ooze, I spend the whole time trying to get out of people’s path and bumping into someone else in the process.
It’s not so much the crowd that bothers me, it’s the level of interaction. Being an introvert, if I have to interact with a large group of people it gets old fast and I’ll be looking for some alone time to recharge. Just sitting in a crowd but only interacting with my small group of friends is no big deal.