Social norms are a blessing and a curse. While they stop us performing such lunatic acts as urinating in dumpsters and naming our children Adolf, they can sometimes be restrictive in ways that do more harm than good. We all want to meet people and make connections in the world, yet we wait for an invite because its considered psychopathic to talk to strangers. When that invite doesnt come we feel isolated despite being around hundreds of people every day, any one of whom could become a friend if only someone dared to say hello. In fact, many things that could happen in real life a fated gaze exchanged over a railway platform, a dream job arising from getting drunk with someone you dont know we tend to think only happen on the movie screen, yet if we freed ourselves from the strait jacket of social convention a little more and opened ourselves up to spontaneity, our lives would spin in much more interesting directions. Perhaps we dont even realize the extent to which were controlled by unwritten rules. Hence this list identifies some of the things we all should do but dont because were afraid to look weird. Can you think of any more? Let us know in the comments and maybe well create the worlds biggest ever list of crazy polite conventions.
