
Headphones Everywhere - pmcpinto
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/headphones-everywhere
======
dijit
this comes off like such rambling with no real point to it.

I suppose if I had to try and find his points they would be:

* "headphones are bad because they cause us to be isolated"

* "Millennials are seeing themselves as hard done by"

The second point might not be what the author means though, but the former has
strong tones throughout the piece.

I do not agree, headphones are a way of having some level of privacy in an
increasingly crowded and public world. We are expected to use public
transport, for the good of our wallets and the good of the planet. However
those public transport machines are especially loud (Bus engines are
incredible) and we're beholden to the whim of shitty teenagers playing rap
music at 100db from tiny speakers.

This is before I mention the increasingly popular open-office work
environments, which put a large number of people in a room together for 8-10
hours every day.

I do not want to hear Debbie finalising that sales call and then talking shit
to her colleague about the guy from third.. I want to get my work done and
focus. Headphones are the only way to do that in a modern work environment.

~~~
JamesBaxter
Amanda Petrusich is a woman.

I'm more surprised that podcasts and audiobooks aren't mentioned. I only
listen to music at the gym and at work. When I'm travelling I like to listen
to stuff that will push me but when I'm working I just use music to block the
noise.

~~~
abstractbeliefs
While it's inconsiderate to the author to get her pronouns right, does her
being a man or woman have any bearing on the article or the above criticism of
it?

~~~
JamesBaxter
Not especially, I was going to make the 2nd part of my comment regardless.

I am however trying to consider the author more as I read online though in
this case I don't think it adds any additional context.

------
coldpie
> Is the ubiquity of headphones just another emblem of catastrophic social
> decline, edging us even deeper into narcissism and unsociability?

No.

* closes tab

~~~
burkaman
As always, nobody is impressed that you found a reason not to read the
article. As a general rule, if you couldn't even make it to the first line,
you probably aren't capable of making a useful comment.

~~~
coldpie
50-odd upvotes says otherwise

~~~
coldtea
Every kind of crap can get upvotes given enough people with no judgement.

------
gerbilly
When drinking tea, I drink tea. [1]

When coding, I code.

When listening to music, I listen to music.

When sitting on a plane, I sit on a plane.

Resist the urge to distract yourself and see what happens.[2]

[1] There is the story of the Zen student whose teacher taught him "When
drinking tea, just drink tea." The same student later discovered his teacher
drinking tea and reading the newspaper. When confronted the teacher said,
"When drinking tea and reading the newspaper, just drink tea and read the
newspaper."

[2] I believe that boredom and frustration tolerance are important life skills
worth developing. Also I have found that many things that at first seem boring
become more interesting if you pay close attention to them.

~~~
logicalDuck
When you're drinking tea you're allowing the hot water to distract you from
the ingredients of the tea, you should really just chew the herbs. All
experience is blended, it's good to enjoy what you're doing fully but that
doesn't preclude adding additional things to the experience. Sometimes the
addition of those things allow you to have a fresh look at the situation
you're in. Just sit on the grass, sit on the grass and read a book, sit on the
grass and listen to music. You could mark two of those situations as distracts
or redefine them as unique blended experiences to enjoy. I prefer the latter.
Mindfulness practice is valuable though, I just think blended experiences like
blended foods are equally valuable. I'd rather have a sandwich then separately
eat bread, lettuce, cheese, tomato and mustard.

~~~
gerbilly
The teaching to "Just drink tea" is a training principle. The reason that the
teacher can read the news paper and drink tea, is that he's completed his
training.[1]

Most of us never attempt any such training though.

In my comment I wasn't attempting to make a moral or aesthetic prescription. I
was just pointing out that training the ability to focus on doing one thing is
worthwhile.

[1] Also most Buddhist teachings reveal several layers of meaning when
actually attempted. You are supposed to _try_ and sit and drink tea only, and
see what happens, and what that reveals about your mind.

------
teekert
I listen to podcasts usually, makes my bike commute of 25 min seem to go much
faster while I'm listening to No Agenda or the Linux Action Show.

I do notice though that whenever I take them off, usually because I already
have a head full of thoughts, there is a soothing effect. I think the constant
flow of information is nice as a distraction but makes one much less mindful
of other things. The brain does not seem to get the periods of wandering
thoughts it craves from time to time. Constant information intake seems to
make me less friendly to people, makes me stare and smile less. It makes me
enjoy the beauty around me less. So I started to take them off more often, but
it feels like I'm fighting an addiction when I do.

~~~
return0
Both ears? isnt biking with headphones dangerous?

~~~
paulryanrogers
Sometimes it's impossible understand a podcast with only one ear. Though
traffic signals like honking are important. So if it's not too loud otherwise
I use only one ear.

Worse are the radio stations playing honking/emergency sounds or jerks
screaming suddenly as they pass, just for 'fun'. Creates unnecessary anxiety.

------
diydsp
Initial comments on this article indicate it elicited a persecuted response:
Commenters are defending their use of headphones. This was perhaps due to the
tone of the article (phrases like "catastrophic social decline" don't help...)
and/or the tone of media in general which treats every topic as life and
death.

The existence of all the headphones though raises more interesting questions
that are fun and interesting to think about in a sci-fi way than "is it
acceptable for you to react in this way?"

There are hints of it in the article, but they don't come through well. The
key questions are mostly of curiosity. First, there is simply "what are people
listening to?" Is it always music, what kinds of podcasts, meditations,
lectures, spy recordings?

I am particularly interested in shared experiences via headphones. It is okay
in my book to not want to hear unwanted machine and person noise. Now what are
the creative possibilities for making, e.g. mini groups of shared listening?
In a sense, we are all sharing the same podcast, albeit time-shifted. What
about group music-composing on subway trains? What about several people on the
same bus or walking path to listening to the same thing together at the same
time? What about historical tours, etc. This could be _fun_. And having all
these headphones around might actually help it happen.

------
PeterStuer
For the most part the shared auditive environment is polluted beyond believe.
Loud 24x7 traffic, degenerates with tiny phone speakers blaring, no holds
barred shouting across the street ... The only way to keep some sanity is to
shut it out. It is not the people donning headphones that are a-social, it is
those that make it necessary to wear one that should be blamed.

~~~
jessaustin
Yes, one doubts the author would prefer it if we all traded in our headphones
for boomboxes.

~~~
elbear
Why should those be the only options?

------
pystack
When I code, headphones block out distractions and music gets me in the right
mentality.

When refactoring or debugging code, I like fast paced with action-packed
lyrics. Dragonforce Through the Fire and Flames, Darude Sandstorm, Linkin
Park, Eminem Til I Collapse

When writing new code, I like slow paced with thoughtful or romantic[1]
lyrics. Joni Mitchell, Mozart, Carpenters

I've also started to put the song on repeat on the background. I recommend
ListenOnRepeat.

[1] [http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/psy-
methoden/methodenlehre/Lov...](http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/psy-
methoden/methodenlehre/Loveandsex.pdf)

------
spodek
Here in New York City, 90% of subway riders may be listening to headphones or
engrossed in their smartphones, playing games, checking email, etc.

I have a feeling it's cut down on altercations and fights, maybe even
panhandling and performers. I wonder if there's any data on it or if a similar
effect happens elsewhere.

~~~
jessaustin
Yet the wardens seem desperate to keep those items _out_ of prisons...

~~~
cholantesh
I think the argument is that earphones could be used as a garroting device.

~~~
kalleboo
Would be interesting if they designed a pair of earbuds that had a
deliberately weak cable so it couldn't be used as a weapon

~~~
kwhitefoot
It might be better to design a prison that actually rehabilitated people. Then
perhaps there might be a little less violence.

~~~
kalleboo
As a Swede I can only agree

------
oneeyedpigeon
I sometimes listen to music, through headphones, when I'm travelling on my own
on a train. Since I regularly make the same journey, it can get a little
boring. I'm not always in the mood for work and I don't always carry a
book/magazine with me; music is an excellent alternative. I wouldn't dream of
playing that music out loud, inflicting it upon everyone else.

That's the boring explanation. It may lack the keen social commentary that the
article speculates on, but it happens to be true.

------
gmarx
When you listen on headphones, sound in the middle of the mix, which might
seem to come from the middle of and slightly behind home speakers, appears to
come from the middle of your skull. I find this fascinating. It's a use case
that probably never came up during evolution, yet works reasonably

------
pYQAJ6Zm
Before I came to live at a dense urban area, I couldn’t imagine myself wearing
headphones outdoors. How quickly I changed. There is just too much noise, too
many distractions, and wearing headphones with some of my preferred music
helps in effectively ignoring all of that. So I joined the herd, and now wear
earphones practically all the time I spend outside if alone.

I take care not to use a high volume, unless I’m in a reasonably safe setting,
like on a train. Listening to music instead of the traffic, people talking too
loud, advertisements, etc., is great, but only as long as it doesn’t pose a
safety risk.

------
kstenerud
I've found that the more urban and compressed the environment, the more
headphones you see. I started doing it too when riding the bus or working in
my "open plan" office, to the point that I wore them on average 10 hours a
day.

Now I live in the countryside, my nearest neighbor is a mile away, and I
haven't used headphones in 6 months, nor have I even thought about them until
reading this article. And I still don't feel like using them.

------
sevenless
A reason that some European countries use in recent laws that ban women from
wearing full-face burkas/niqabs, is it stops the wearers
interacting/communicating with others.

The same logic implies we should ban public wear of headphones.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ban_on_face_covering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ban_on_face_covering)

"The key argument supporting this proposal is that face-coverings ... [are] a
social hindrance within a society which relies on facial recognition and
expression in communication. ... the European Court of Human Rights upheld the
French law on 1 July 2014, accepting the argument of the French government
that the law was based on "a certain idea of living together.""

~~~
glenndebacker
In Belgium the only reason full-face burkas and niqabs are outlawed is because
you need to be recognisable. There isn't a burka prohibition but rather one
against clothes/masks/... in general that can make it difficult to identify
somebody.

The only exception is when it's carnival ergo the reason why it's called the
carnival law here. And I assume that is also the case in most European
countries.

When you are wearing a headphone you can be still identified.

~~~
sevenless
I assume that sunglasses and beards are not banned.

~~~
castis
Sunglasses and beards do not obscure your entire face to the point where you
are unrecognizable whereas a burka obscures all but your eyes. Surely you can
see the difference?

~~~
allemagne
A beard, large sunglasses, and a hoodie can obscure all but your nose. Do you
really believe a burka is that much different where one should be legal and
one should not?

~~~
castis
If you don't think that the situation is more complex than wearing a hoodie
and sunglasses, then I don't believe that answering your question would have
any positive outcome.

Having said that. If I were to see someone walking around with a beard, large
sunglasses, and a hoodie in a possible effort to conceal their identity, I
would look at them a little more careful than I would the people around them.

------
cs2818
Perhaps I am just paranoid but I don't enjoy the complete blocking of
environmental sound cues that occurs when wearing most headphones. It would be
nice to have more headphones which focus on delivering an ambient noise
passthrough mode.

------
xchip
This article has been published every year since the headphones were invented.

Before the headphones the isolation device were books, a thing that would make
us detach from reality and turn us crazy (this is the main plot of Don
Quixote, a novel written in 1620)

~~~
qntty
This is also one of the main points of this article.

~~~
saturdaysaint
It's amazing how few commenters seem to show any comprehension of the article.

~~~
xchip
No wonder given low wheat/chaff ratio this article has.

Most people are working and can only quickly scan through it trying to find
the main points.

If the smart people in ycombinator get the wrong point it probably means the
article was poorly written.

~~~
saturdaysaint
Most of the comments seem indicative of an exceptionally poor scan, or at
least a scan optimized for a Vox article or Reddit ELIF thread. I also scanned
the article and thought it was obvious that the point was far afield from
"headphones/technology bad" \- just read the first sentence of the first four
paragraphs and the shape of the argument is pretty easy to intuit. I don't
have time to get into the meaning of a sharp uptick in headphone usage either,
but shitcomments that are obviously reactions to the photo caption are the
real chaff here.

------
fdomig
I might just not like to hear the loud outside world and block it with
headphones.

------
durzagott
Interesting the author made no mention of hearing damage and the impact it
could have on the younger generation.

I wonder if it was a deliberate decision to avoid a common debate or if she
just didn't consider it.

------
6stringmerc
> _“Do people really like music this much?” I have wondered, incredulously,
> while tallying endless white earplugs._

Does the New Yorker really pay good, honest money for such laughably sheltered
premises? It's no accident Taylor Swift's take-home last year was $170
million. Sometimes people wear headphones simply to tune out the grocery
store's bland Adele-centric easy listening. Loving music is pretty much a
human being thing.

~~~
gmarx
One could argue that clearly that is exactly how much people like music at
that particular time and place, assuming she can distinguish those listening
to music from those not

------
tartuffe78
Seems to assume everyone is listening to music, I'd bet it's closer to a 50/50
split between music and podcasts.

~~~
lsaferite
I'd say that split is VERY regional dependent and that you are likely
overestimating the percentage of podcast listeners as a whole.

------
draw_down
People on the bus are assholes who just play audio from their speakers. People
in my (open plan, of course) office are assholes who have impromptu meetings
and boorish conversations all day. People on planes bring their screaming
children. Headphones are a necessity.

------
pdkl95
> “Do people really like music this much?”

Yes.

/me checks that the Grado SR80e is positioned properly and plays The Soft Moon
(
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgwGEG10WIY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgwGEG10WIY)
)

------
EdiX
Least interesting thing I have read this year. I'm starting to think that use
of the word 'performative' is a dead giveaway for pointless navel-gazing.

------
harveywi
Reminds me of the seashell ear-thimbles from Fahrenheit 451.

~~~
cholantesh
Such an evocative image. Stays with me much more than Clarke's Newspad in
2001.

------
ungzd
In Russia, lots of people used headphones about 5 years ago. Now I see people
with headphones very rarely. Also, I think interest to music is in decline
here.

------
anotheryou
And a day before he probably complained about the sensory overload in cities
or people reading while walking.

Headphones are perfect for entertainment while commuting.

------
circa
I was just talking about this with a friend yesterday. So crazy this article
just popped up. She snagged some headphones on Prime day too. haha.

------
zhte415
I find wearing headphones decreases local spacial / social awareness hugely.
This makes things like crossing a road dangerous.

------
pgrote
"In 2012, the headphone industry saw a quick thirty-two-per-cent leap in
revenue "

And once Apple removes the headphone jack, the revenue will spike again.

