When I walk, my eyeballs roam everywhere. Indoors, I’m looking flyers on the wall, gazing down the hall to see who’s coming toward me, checking out lights, trim, paint, whatever. Outdoors, I’m taking in the scenery, watching cars go by, and so on.
Sometimes I encounter other pedestrians whose eyes are perpetually locked onto the ground a few feet in front of them. For some it may be social anxiety, although I see some people who do this even when there’s no one in their immediate vicinity, and on occasions when I talk to them, they seem fine. For others…I don’t know. I’m at a loss to understand why they seem so focused on that patch of ground right in front of them.
Are you one of those ground watchers? Why do you do that? What’s going through your mind while you walk?
I watch where I’m going. I look at people who are in my vicinity (personal security), I watch for cars when crossing the street - especially over my left shoulder to make sure nobody is going to turn and run me down (personal safety), and I walk into people who are walking directly at me and too busy to stop texting or reading the latest LOL to observe common courtesies.
Mostly ground watcher here. Mainly because the sidewalk potholes are just as bad as the ones in the streets. Many of the concrete blocks are lifted and you take your life in your hands if you ignore this. Occasionally I find money but that is not my reason.
I am aware of the world around me. As such, I am able to avoid people locked in to their texting or just walking, looking at the ground and nothing else.
When people drop money, it tends to land on the ground, so while I don’t look only at the ground, I do keep watch. I find pennies often, dimes and nickels occasionally, and rarely quarters. I think the most I’ve found in one spot were two one-dollar bills in a parking lot.
It never ceases to amaze me how much money people drop and just can’t be arsed to pick up, not that I’m complaining any, mind you.
Depends on where I’m walking. Growing up, I walked across rough terrain and crudely plowed fields a lot. Looking down saves face-plants. In uncertain terrain, I still do this. Most times, though, my head is on a swivel.
I normally keep my eyes on where I’m going, but when I moved back to Saint Paul from Berkeley a few years ago, I noticed I was falling back into watching the ground, because it’s pretty important to know if you’re about to step onto an icy patch.
Plus, people in St. Paul don’t seem to be so aggressive about picking up after their dogs.
Although I’m reading/sending texts, I’ve never run into anyone. I no longer read texts in the car (even at red lights it freaks out my gf), so I look at my phone while intermittently looking up while I’m walking.
A few weeks ago I took our dogs for a walk in the woods. I know the trails by heart, so I was comfortable catching up on texts and emails. Suddenly all three dogs froze and I stopped short, barely avoiding falling over them. Looking where they were looking, I saw nothing. Until the herd of deer jumped up from the weeds where they had bedded down. Very cool.
Where I live, I tend to watch the ground more because I am walking in the forest or on other very uneven footing. Also want to avoid stepping on random amphibians or slugs (ours are 6" long and bright yellow).
In the suburbs, I track my trajectory mostly, as the whole thing is built for cars and you can waste a lot of time otherwise.
In the city, I watch everything. The more lonely the street, the more proactive I become. The last time I lived in a city it was in a ghetto. Most of the women I knew walked in the middle of the street, away from doorways and alleys. I don’t go to the city much any more.
I never walk and text. I consider it an incredibly stupid thing to do.
