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Headphones Everywhere

newyorker.com

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Re: Headphones Everywhere

#41

Post by return0 »

sevenless wrote: post #28

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 "The key argument supporting this proposal is that face-coverings ... [are] a social hindrance within a society which relies…

We have all sorts of regulations about public spaces (including the inability to hang around naked). Public spaces are not "do whatever" spaces. Headphones however do not hinder identity to the point of making communication impossible. I suppose people hanging around with VR goggles will.

Also, you omitted the primary reason:

"face-coverings prevent the clear identification of a person"

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#42

Post by markatkinson »

dijit wrote: post #2

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…

I decided to read the whole article for once before writing it off. There is some interesting information regarding how the rise in headphone use is having an influence on the actual music production.

But I think the overall narrative of the article steers a bit too close for comfort to the old "all you people have your faces in your phones all day long" theme, just directed at headphones. This is expressed a lot more in the initial 3 - 4 paragraphs, which is a shame because most of us will read the first paragraph and then hop on over to comments ;)

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#43

Post by sevenless »

glenndebacker wrote: post #40
sevenless wrote: post #28

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 "The key argument supporting this proposal is that face-coverings ... [are] a social hindrance within a society which relies…

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…

I assume that sunglasses and beards are not banned.

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#44

Post by xchip »

qntty wrote: post #34
xchip wrote: post #7

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)

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

which one exactly? I quickly scanned though it and didn't find anything interesting but the usual cliches

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#45

Post by bbarn »

teekert wrote: post #10

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…

I am the opposite. My 45 minutes of bike commuting, are about as close as I get to tech free time all day long. I like the sound of the outside, even the ugly city sounds, over listening to rubber coated bluetooth speakers belting out someone else's musical tastes, phone conversations, you name it.

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#47

Post by saturdaysaint »

Can_Not wrote: post #20
dijit wrote: post #2

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…

Definitely true. I didn't read the article, but it sounds like an annoying extrovert asserting the virtues of extrovertism. As an introvert, my mind may have came to that conclusion by paranoia.

Right, you definitely didn't read the article, and FWIW it sure reads like the GP barely skimmed it.

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#48

Post by sangnoir »

georgebarnett wrote: post #37
coldpie wrote: post #15

> Is the ubiquity of headphones just another emblem of catastrophic social decline, edging us even deeper into narcissism and unsociability? No. * closes tab

Maybe the ubiquity of headphones is telling us that our shared spaces are too loud and full of background noise. Think piped music, announcements, adverts, engines, etc etc..

> Maybe the ubiquity of headphones is telling us that our shared spaces are too loud

Or maybe the shared spaces are plain boring. I don't know what the author expects people to do on flights, but I'm not going to be twiddling thumbs for any flight longer than 30 minutes. Substitute headphones for paperbacks or newspapers, and the rant would still be relevant (for the lack of a better word).

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#49

Post by saturdaysaint »

qntty wrote: post #34
xchip wrote: post #7

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)

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

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

Re: Headphones Everywhere

#50

Post by sevenless »

return0 wrote: post #41
sevenless wrote: post #28

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 "The key argument supporting this proposal is that face-coverings ... [are] a social hindrance within a society which relies…

We have all sorts of regulations about public spaces (including the inability to hang around naked). Public spaces are not "do whatever" spaces. Headphones however do not hinder identity to the point of making communication impossible. I suppose people hanging around with VR goggles will. Also, you omitted the primary reason: "face-coverings prevent the clear identification of a person"

Why do you think that's the primary reason? Allowing communication is a reason that was put forward, and the ECHR's quote implies it's the reason they accepted the ban.

Anyway, as I said to someone else, sunglasses and beards are not banned. It's also questionable whether the government has any reasonable right to demand that you are clearly identifiable in public. Should everyone wear license plates?

Identifying someone is not necessary in order to talk to them; you can talk to strangers, can't you?

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