10/16/2021; W05: Response to Bro. Iver's "Cultural Differences Concerning Time"

      In Brother Iver's lecture, "Cultural Differences Concerning Time", we learn about the difference between monochronic and polychronic cultures. According to the article "Monochronic vs. Polychronic Cultures: What is the Difference", we learn that "The monochronic individual believes in finishing one task at a time. In their time culture, time is a valuable commodity that shouldn’t be wasted and sticking to one task at a time ensures that it’s well-managed. The monochronic culture schedules one event at a time in an orderly fashion" ( VP Legacies®). In contrast, we learn that "In the polychronic culture, employees can work on several tasks simultaneously. Polychronic individuals thrive on carrying out more than one task at the same time as long as they can be executed together with a natural rhythm." The important thing to understand is that "The critical difference between the two time cultures is that monochronic cultures value schedules, while polychronic cultures value interpersonal relationships" (VP Legacies®).

     As someone born in the United States living in Mexico, I can understand this from both sides. My husband is the most efficient, monochronic person I know. He gets it from his mother, whose funeral theme was how organized she was. However, once we moved to Mexico, where he spent the first eighteen years of his life, he had to undo his decades-long, fast-paced, California thinking, and remember what it was like to live in a polychronic society. Thirteen years ago we were blessed with two identical, blue-eyed, twin boys. When we took them out shopping in our mid-sized northern Mexican town, we were stopped at every conceivable opportunity by old women, middle-aged women, young women, and even children, who wanted to look at their eyes, rub their cheeks, ask if they were identical or fraternal, and just generally fawn over them. While I loved the attention and the opportunity to talk about my beautiful baby boys, my husband had a difficult time adjusting to the fact that his tightly-planned schedule was going to inevitably be decimated at every turn. To adjust for this, he scheduled in an extra forty-five minutes into every shopping trip to account for the hungry eyes and hands of the Mexican females. 

     Conversely, I was able to see the American culture from a Mexican person's point of view. A good friend of mine moved to one of the southwest states to study international business. However, he only lasted one semester because he was debilitated by the rude behavior of the people, the fast pace, and seeming lack of caring by American individuals. It was depressing to him that Americans seem to put everything, especially human relationships, second to money, schedules, and work. He ended up moving back to Mexico to earn his bachelors because he wasn't interested in living in a society like that. His story was incredibly eye-opening to me and made me much more aware of how I treat those around me, especially those who were raised in what I now understand as a polychronic society. 

     Listening to Brother Ivers' lecture has truly opened my eyes and helped me to understand the different paradigms relating to time between the two cultures I am living in. 

Sources cited:

Ivers, John. "Cultural Differences Concerning              Time", https://video.byui.edu/media/04+Cultural+differences+in+Concerning+TIME/0_1cjop6lc.

VP Legacies. “Monochronic vs. Polychronic Cultures: What Are the Differences?” VP Legacies, VP Legacies Https://mljzsynwtp3k.I.optimole.com/T8ngVDQ-UftXQUeu/w:Auto/h:Auto/q:Auto/Https://Vplegacies.com/Wp-Content/Uploads/2019/11/Mp.png, 29 July 2020, https://vplegacies.com/monochronic-vs-polychronic-cultures-what-are-the-differences/.