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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#91

Post by Natfan »

basisword wrote: post #54
fundad wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. These people seem to be panicking that our precious society is suffering because of choices people are making for themselves when that’s just what society is. If they benefit from talking to more people, go ahead and enjoy the benefits. They aren’t owed anything. I’ll talk to strangers when it makes me feel good. But most of the time I try avoid inviting weirdos to complain about minorities or marginalized pe…

>> I try avoid inviting weirdos to complain about minorities or marginalized people from someone who has driven away anyone close to them. I would suggest that it's your avoidance of talking to strangers that makes you think this is how a lot of them think. And it kind of proves the point that society can suffer because of it. If you went out tomorrow and talked to 100 random strangers for 10mins I'd be surprised if…

check out some vox populi, you would be surprised

Re: The AirPods Effect

#92

Post by bombcar »

garrickvanburen wrote: post #61
dav43 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take, is that this effect has removed a lot of the micro communications we make - not necessarily random conversations. It’s taken away random moments that may trigger a short small conversation with strangers. In part it’s taking away the shared experience in public and making it “my” experience.

Whether grocery shopping or an endurance running event (5K+) those with any kind of headphones in are simply less aware of the people trying to get around them.

I heard they're thinking of putting cameras in the AirPods - so we'll just add collision avoidance (and backup alarms).

Re: The AirPods Effect

#93

Post by MBlume »

nozzlegear wrote: post #26
MBlume wrote: post #2

I'd much rather be surrounded by people wearing earbuds than have people watching tiktoks through their phone speakers on the subway

That just sounds like another version of what the author is talking about: using [device] to avoid human interaction.

As is driving alone in a car

Re: The AirPods Effect

#94

Post by try_the_bass »

The thought of intentionally deafening myself to the outside world, even partially, is unnerving, because I can't stand the thought of nerfing my own situational awareness to that degree. Especially in fast-paced environments, like city streets, where sounds can carry such important signal.

Even watching someone else walk around a city with headphones/earbuds in is something that makes me uncomfortable by proxy. It's like someone deciding that walking around with beer goggles is a good idea

Re: The AirPods Effect

#95

Post by huggert6 »

walrus01 wrote: post #31
nozzlegear wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That just sounds like another version of what the author is talking about: using [device] to avoid human interaction.

In a really big and busy city it's emotionally exhausting and not reasonable to have an interaction with everyone near you. The only way a lot of people can tolerate being packed into busy public transit systems on a daily basis is to intentionally ignore each other to a certain degree. It's essentially the same unspoken etiquette rule as what you're socially expected to do if riding a crowded elevator. Go commute by…

[flagged]

Re: The AirPods Effect

#96

Post by alberth »

yesitcan wrote: post #74
alberth wrote: post #69

Tinnitus I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods. I never wore any type of earphones ever. Then started using AirPods for calls, during workouts or on a plane. A year later I developed tinnitus and the only thing that changed in my life was wearing AirPods. I’m no doctor, and who knows what caused my tinnitus. But it’s irreversible. I constantly hear a humming ring now and it’s super distracting, especially…

You forgot to mention the part where this happened recently. You’ll habituate soon and forget about it. Source: got bad tinnitus from motorcycling, became depressed with suicidal ideation and then got over it.

Happened 4-years ago.

I still notice it every night at bed. Or anytime it’s quiet.

I try not to think about it, because I feel like it gets amplified when I do.

But it’s daily for the last 4-years :(

Hope you’re ok now. Please see someone if you’re not.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#97

Post by brailsafe »

saghm wrote: post #75
dav43 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take, is that this effect has removed a lot of the micro communications we make - not necessarily random conversations. It’s taken away random moments that may trigger a short small conversation with strangers. In part it’s taking away the shared experience in public and making it “my” experience.

Sure, but when the only reason I had those random moments with strangers were because they wanted them, and refusing to engage is considered "rude", I'd argue that it already was just someone else's "my" experience before, just "shared" because of societal peer pressure. What changed is that now I have a way to actually assert my boundaries without being the rude one.

I think it's a mistake to conflate passive signaling with asserting oneself, and whether you like the interaction you might have otherwise had or not (as long as it's not clearly harassment or something) it would be rude to ignore people in public whether that rudeness is delegated to technology or not. It's just another way of turning up one's nose, and it's a gross way to operate imo. If you don't like the people you'd interact with, it seems to me like it should be a personal goal to find a place to work or live that's more palatable from that perspective. If you go about life preferring to pre-emptively refuse interaction with people passively, I'm not aware of a better word than "rude".

Re: The AirPods Effect

#98

Post by alberth »

teruakohatu wrote: post #72
alberth wrote: post #69

Tinnitus I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods. I never wore any type of earphones ever. Then started using AirPods for calls, during workouts or on a plane. A year later I developed tinnitus and the only thing that changed in my life was wearing AirPods. I’m no doctor, and who knows what caused my tinnitus. But it’s irreversible. I constantly hear a humming ring now and it’s super distracting, especially…

> I swear my tinnitus is a result of use of AirPods. Have you had your hearing checked out by an audiologist? Any hearing loss? Hearing loss (age) and damage (loud noise) are the most likely culprits.

Yes. Checked out twice.

No hearing loss at all.

My hearing is actually better than age appropriate, so the doctors say I’ll just have to live with it because they can’t detect it.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#99

Post by brailsafe »

wenc wrote: post #85
tptacek wrote: post #5

I don't remember any time in my life where it ever felt normal to me to randomly talk to strangers. I went to London when I was a teenager and was made uncomfortable by how chatty the cab drivers were. Later, I worked at a startup and my boss was preternaturally gifted at chatting up strangers, which he did habitually in every setting we were in when we traveled; on the plane, on the bus from the airport, &c. I remem…

As someone from Chicago (actual Chicago, south side, not the suburbs), randomly talking to strangers is what we do. We're talking to strangers at the bus stop, at the grocery check out, or just wherever. It's just phatic conversation, nothing needs to come of it. Chicagoans aren't just friendly, they actually love the art of the conversation -- every conversation is a chance to put in the reps. But the minute you ste…

> But the minute you step into the suburbs, this habit disappears.

This is exactly the feeling I get in the suburbs of most places, and I think the nature of car-centric suburbs serves as a decent analogy for the Airpodsification of otherwise more urban areas. Suburbanites want their palace that they can tightly control, and it rarely matters where it is as long as they can drive to anywhere they need to go, but they don't really like people and it feels like a deeply antisocial liminal space. There's rarely any specific reason anyone would want to be there, and even if they did, they'd have to drive, and if they chose not to, people there use their cars as tools for avoiding interactions with strangers. You wake up, get in your motorized comfort bubble / killing machine, and then drive from point A to B and then back to Point A. If you wanted to go hangout, oftentimes the act of driving that you've chosen sucks all that time away anyway. Drivers then get dogs so they have some sort of excuse to interact with other people who have dogs, or kids or whatever.

Then if they're lucky, they wake up one day and realize they don't see any real friends that aren't their immediate neighbors anymore, and they've lost the ability to understand how to meet people outside of work. Their old friends didn't come out for that bbq because it's dead boring and the bbq master is the only one that doesn't have a commute back. The bar in their basement sits empty because it turns out people actually want to go to the pub instead of sitting in the basement. The novelty was never the drinking itself, but the feeling of coming together in the same space and place as other people hanging out having a good time.

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