In the US, from my experience growing up in the northeast at least, people don’t really touch you. Sure, part of the standard professional greeting is a hardy, powerful, yet ideally not bone crushing, handshake, but then people pretty much leave you alone. And with friends, you might get a quick hug, but you don’t linger too long. Because that would be weird.
I remember one time when an American boss patted me on the shoulder in appreciation, and I felt weird about it. It wasn’t HIM that was weird; it was my societal conditioning that was weird.
I’ve heard of studies about how touch affects babies and animals, and from what I remember, if you don’t touch a child in the first years of life, you are going to have a nut case on your hands. Why do we think that this is different for adults?
On the metro in Washington DC, people get jammed into cars, but most of the time, by contorting their bodies and sometimes waiting for the next train, they are able to not touch anyone. And if the train shifts and you do touch someone, you apologize. What kind of crazy talk is that? Have we taken the ideals of personal space and liberty so far that you are expected to apologize if you accidently brush someone’s elbow on a train?
In the “developed” world we talk about suicide and mental disorders. I just reread Post Secret, filled with secrets that people have sent in. There is less emphasis on those things in Guinea, and I dare generalize to West Africa. I am sure that there are still problems here, but I have to wonder, is the individualistic lifestyle and lack of touch connected to our lack of sense of wellbeing? If we shared more and touched more, would we be healthier?