I am going to take this opportunity to plug what I feel is a very good, arguably important book. The Un-TV and the 10 MPH Car: Experiments in Personal Freedom and Everyday Life by Bernard McGrane. It is essentially a manual and dissertation on experiments in de-socialization. Chapter two, entitled Un-Occupied, Un-Employed, is based on the experience of going into some public place and doing nothing. Not leaning against a tree, not pretending you're waiting for someone, etc. You go to a street corner, a shopping mall, or just about anywhere, and you spend ten minutes doing absolutely nothing with no explanation and no apologies. The results in how your perceptions of the immediate surroundings change and the way the people around you change their behavior towards you is absolutely astounding.

The whole book is a series of experiments in de-socialization and in-depth analysis of the personal and social significance of the results, why things are as they are, etc. An extremely fascinating book.