This is the second part of my mini project MRTLog 2.
Having conducted the empirical study in August and having concluded that whilst there was indeed a lengthening of travel time on the MRT, the additional 2 minutes shouldn't have had such a big impact on the psyche of public transport commuters.
So, I did some research on influencing factors affecting man's perception of time. Through this search, the key words that kept appearing were "time dilation", "time perception" and "life-threatening".
Whilst used interchangeably and freely on the Web, the most apt term should be "time perception" instead of "time dilation", by which differences in real time is actually caused by factors such as relative velocities and curvature of space and time in proximity to a massive object eg Earth. This is supported by Einstein's field equations and theory of relativity which warrants a separate topic altogether.
In case I lost you on the last paragraph, this means that time is not absolute; it's relative to where you are in the universe. Depending how close you are to massive bodies eg stars, planets, the actual flow of time will vary.
But being bound on this Earth, the "lengthened" time that we experience in the trains is not due to physical time dilation but the psychological "time dilation" effect, time perception that influences how our minds perceive time instead.
The mind does funny things to our experience of time.
In 1962, a French cave expert Michel Siffre went to live in a cave that was completely isolated from mechanical clocks and natural light. He soon began to experience a huge change in his perception of time. When he tried to measure out two minutes by counting up to 120 at one-second intervals, it took him 5 minutes.
After emerging from the cave he guessed that he was inside for 34 days. He'd actually been down there for 59 days.
Other supporting tests also concluded factors that directly correlate to lengthened time perception include:
- stress / sense of danger
- temperature (heat)
- attention intensity and span
- lack of personal space
In our context, common events that happen during our travel and lengthen our perception of time will likely include:
- Before travel - timeliness and expectations
- travel stress - from entry to exit
- standing throughout the trip
- sensory invasions - smells, sounds, sights, touch
- faulty ventilation
- lack of personal space
- occasional conflicts
- hard jerkings / delays
- looking out for "priority" beings
- pretence on the psyche
- identified deviants
If you happen to encounter one (or worse, a combination) of the abovementioned events, you will likely experience an "extended" and usually less-than-pleasant trip.
Therefore, we can conclude that for us to enjoy a more "pleasant" journey, the perceived flow of time should be addressed and managed for the commuters.
For the common commuter, trying to manage (or alleviate) the problems faced is almost impossible. In fact, several policies and habits established during travel in fact worsens the situation eg. reminders of train delays, indulging in electronic and mobile entertainment devices to "shorten" travel time. Time perception inevitably occurs and ironically results in a "longer" trip instead.
So, what can be (or should be) done?
If we take a more holistic view of the problem, would it be possible to explore how the frequency and length of transportation could be reduced instead?
Or is there a different way that we can potentially adopt to disentangle us from this wicked problem that most cities face?
That, my friends will be explored in Part 3...
