Chronemics and Proxemics

There's a lot of knowledge one can gain about human communication from understanding the concepts of chronemics and proxemics. Chronemics outlines the idea that the significance of time, and the interpretation of time, is a cultural creation. It looks to study how different cultures use, manipulate, and interpret time, thereby explaining the differences and helping small groups understand how people can interpret time differently. It is particularity important to small group and team communication because it helps a group understand how to orient and direct a group with different or irregular time perceptions. I find that chronemics is a dynamic and interesting concept that helps one understand that the meaning and value of time, something we all take as natural fact, can have multiple interpretations and meanings across cultures. It allows for a group, and a individual, to anticipate and account for differences and conflict that may arise when trying to schedule or facilitate group interaction.
Proxemics is another useful concept that offers just as much understanding into the dynamics of interpersonal and small group communication. Proxemics deals with the space between individuals during communication. It specifically looks at the distance of people communicating in relation to the level of communication they are involved in. This is a fairly understandable idea for most of us, as we all feel that we have a certain amount of “personal space”, and feel uncomfortable when it is encroached upon. Proxemics simply labels and organizes these feelings we have on communicative distances and helps us understand how to influence communication through it.
I think that trying to define universal laws that cover all cultures when trying to understand their chronemics and proxemics is out of the question. I feel that there is no way you could concretely say that a certain level of regard for time, or disregard for it, is the right way. I think that significance is not something that can be enforced, or ruled over. People will always hold differing feelings over how their time should be managed, and the proper way to incorporate time into groups. The same goes for the proximity of individuals to each other.