The other day I made a trip to downtown and spent a few hours running here and there. It’s a rare occasion where I actually get to associate with the ‘real’ people these days. There was something I noticed about everyone though. Practically everyone who was age 12-20 was tuned into an iPod and tuned out of everyone else. Mind you, I was one of those people in my younger years, always going around with a walkman (a portable cassette tape player for our younger viewers) listening to a wide range of mind numbing music. Those repetitive messages wrapped in tunes evoking mild to extreme emotions are still well recalled if I think about them. If only I was given the equivalent with a message that was more positive.
What concerned me though was the fact that I almost always could HEAR the music myself from sometimes over 20 feet away. The same music that is blaring directly into their ears. Even Peter Townshed has admitted to the hears of earphone listening as the source of his own hearing loss. Could this be considered self induced noise pollution? But I digress.
My thoughts wandered as I watched these iPod people go about completely desocialized, disconnected, and almost like in a dumbed down trans moving about people like they were nothing more than obstacles.
I am all for entertainment, but this pod people effect that portable technology has on people in its current form seems like it removed another layer of humanity and community. Something I think everyone knows we need more of.
A great solution that I hope to see soon will be a way to be able to connect with those around you… perhaps as wireless technology matures we will see more connective solutions come about that will bring back some communication. Maybe a version two of iPhone will have this available. Hopefully it will prompt the iPod people to break out of their pods, and with hazy eyes and wonder, they can reintegrate with the real world.
I can’t help but wonder when I see and think about stuff like this just what kind of world my kids will see. Then again, more likely by then we will be past the need for peripherals for all this stuff.
hearing loss iphone ipod ipod people noise pollusion peter townshed pod people stories Share This
