The Universal Fake-Crime Experience
You know that weird feeling when you’re doing something completely legal, socially acceptable, and morally harmless, but your brain is convinced you’re about to get arrested?
That’s how I’ve started feeling about reading in public lately. I recently came across a reel of a woman reading How to Kill a Man and Get Away with It on public transport, and a man posted it hating on the woman saying she is working on becoming a criminal, without even knowing what is inside the book.
Then Instagram started suggesting similar content to me… People saying how they think reading in public is performative and the people are just posing to get posted on instagram and feel different.
Which is a very stupid take, I don’t think anyone who reads in public is performing, how did we even come to that conclusion.
That got me thinking about all the completely normal things we do that somehow feel illegal.
The Main List
Some of these things include:
Everyday Life
- Walking out of a shop without buying anything
- Leaving a store after only looking around
- Taking extra ketchup packets
- Using a café bathroom, without ordering
- Walking into a hotel lobby when you’re not staying there
- Returning something after trying it on at home
Workplace
- Leaving work exactly on time
- Taking your full lunch break
- Logging off without checking messages one last time
- Taking a sick day when you’re genuinely sick
- Ignoring work messages after office hours
- Actually using your paid leaves
Public Places
- Reading in public.
- Walking into a building you’re unfamiliar with
- Being the last customer in a store before closing
- Sitting somewhere without buying anything
- Crossing an empty road
- Going into a restaurant just to look at the menu
Social Media and Social Situations
- Replying to someone’s message hours later
- Unfollowing someone without blocking them
- Watching someone’s story immediately after they post it
- Accidentally liking an old photo while stalking their profile
- Leaving a group chat without making an announcement
- Reading a message and forgetting to reply
Why Do These Things Feel Illegal?
I think we’re overly aware of people watching or judging us, and always assuming the worst of us. We’ve been conditioned to always be polite and avoid inconveniencing others.We’re often taught to be polite, fit in, and avoid inconveniencing others before we’re taught to simply take up space as ourselves. Sometimes we feel like we need permission to simply exist in public spaces, which is not true. The world is as much ours as it is anyone else’s.
Our brains love creating unnecessary worst-case scenarios in our heads. Like what if someone is saying something bad about us, what if they think we are mean, what if they don’t like how we are dressed, and so many more. Social anxiety can turn completely normal behaviour into a dramatic internal crime scene.
As an introvert myself, every time I go out I feel like people are watching me. I am a confident person, but that doesn’t mean I am not screaming internally every time a stranger looks at me a second longer than necessary. And you know what the worst part is, The stranger is probably going through the same scenarios in their own minds.
Conclusion
Maybe we’re not actually doing anything suspicious. Maybe society has simply convinced us that existing in public requires a valid reason, a receipt, permission from management, and possibly three witnesses.
I don’t know if we can do anything to stop it, all I know is, we can work on ourselves and our social anxiety. We can try and stop giving af about people around us and just keep living and winning in our own lives.
What’s something completely legal that makes you feel like you’re committing a crime?
Let me know your thoughts below
Ladyink with love 