On/Off Experiment Part 1

For my experiment, I have decided to get away from technology while riding public transportation. I have always found myself looking down at my phone or listening to music during my commute to Teachers College or whenever I am traveling somewhere. Since public transportation is the most popular way to travel around New York City, I found it important to unplug while I am riding it and observe the world around me.
During my experiment, I found that I have been missing so much around me. If I was by myself, and not speaking with a friend, I felt myself eavesdropping on peoples conversations around me, while  trying not to make it too obvious. I discovered that the people sitting around me are much more interesting than I realized and that some of them were like me, just trying to get to a destination.
For the people who I found more interesting, they were the homeless, the slightly psychotic, the teenagers who think they know everything, the tourists, the families, the business people, and the talented. Aside from the people that make a scene on public transportation, I did not pay attention to the others while traveling. Now that I have had the opportunity to, snippets of their conversations have resonated in my head. Even though they are probably meaning less words and conversations to them, to me, I have found meaning in them. Because of the nature of the experiment, realizing the world around me, their words contribute to the environment I exist in. Some of the conversations I heard, I could connect with and others I could not. But they all represent the world that I miss while on my device, which makes them important.
The people I observed just trying to get to their destination like I had done in the past, I identified with. I could see the discomfort on their faces while they tried to pay attention to their book, friend, or device when someone made speech about their misfortune or when someone acted rambunctiously in the public scene. I felt as if I should be doing the same thing, ignoring those people, because it would make me feel more comfortable than being victim to their every word. I was envious of their escape. But, when the ride was enjoyable or I was listening in on an entertaining conversation, I felt badly for those who were destination oriented. I almost pitied them for not noticing the incredible energy and life in New York City.
To honor the time I have had watching and listening to the world around me while traveling on public transportation, I decided to create text driven drawings of the peoples words I heard to bring meaning to them outside of where I heard them.