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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#571

Post by wvenable »

exmadscientist wrote: post #563
wvenable wrote: post #497

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My son, for example, has sensory issues and cannot tune out anything. The "you have to practice it" is like telling a paraplegic that if they just exercise more they'd be able to walk. People are different and have different needs. > And I think that's really, really unhealthy, for them and for the rest of us. Or maybe it's not. Maybe the rest of the world is unhealthy and this is a way to reclaim some personal healt…

I think that's an unusual scenario, and I'd ask you to consider that that's probably not the argument I was making. Most of the dozens and dozens of people I see in daily life sealed away in their earbud pockets do not appear in any way to need to do that. I am certainly not seeing the full picture of every single person's life, but I do not think that every last one of them is incapable of meaningfully engaging with…

The key word there is appear. How do you know? You're making a lot of assumptions about people and why do things and whether or not it's healthy. You see dozens and dozens people with earphones on at exactly the time when most people don't want to be engaging. Some women put on headphones, often playing nothing, to avoid harassment. But the reasons are endless.

You're assuming all this is "really really unhealthy" but what is the justification for that opinion?

Re: The AirPods Effect

#572

Post by vkou »

oceanplexian wrote: post #539

Yeah, great article. But it should get to the point. The reason you need to physically remove yourself is because of the insane lunatics that blast trash music and do a dance while aggressively panhandling or screaming at you for trying to commute quitely on the train to work. A hallmark of daily life when I worked in SF and in NYC. A great way to fix the fake problem would be to aggressively enforce the existing law…

Pretty sure my commute of 12 years had exactly zero aggressive panhandling (or unaggressive panhandling), yet just about every single person on it was wearing some flavour of them.

I've also just been in Japan, where nobody's commute has panhandling of any kind, and guess what, everyone there is tuning the world out with their headphones, too. Despite it being kind of verbotten to make noise on the subway, and the few conversations that were happening on it were very quiet.

I wasn't wearing mine during that trip. Because a relatively quiet space was actually pleasant for me to be in. American cities are so fucking noisy, and as a consequence, even people respectful of their surroundings tend to be loud.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#573

Post by vkou »

milesskorpen wrote: post #560
oceanplexian wrote: post #539

Yeah, great article. But it should get to the point. The reason you need to physically remove yourself is because of the insane lunatics that blast trash music and do a dance while aggressively panhandling or screaming at you for trying to commute quitely on the train to work. A hallmark of daily life when I worked in SF and in NYC. A great way to fix the fake problem would be to aggressively enforce the existing law…

While that does happen occasionally in SF, it's <5% of my commutes.

It's been 0% of my commutes in Seattle. Yet the NC headphones are also everywhere, including on my head.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#574

Post by port11 »

arrrg wrote: post #510
port11 wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in Germany I think wearing headphones in ANY vehicle is against the law, even a bicycle, and even if you’re not listening to music (IANAL).

That’s wrong. Wearing headphones is not banned. Isolating yourself to a degree where you cannot hear warning signals (emergency vehicles, car horns) is (10 € fine), though that’s not the same as being able to hear all traffic sounds (which would be non-sensical, given that cars are and have been for a very long time quite sound isolating. Horns and emergency vehicles are two of the only things that really get through…

I stand corrected! I was stopped once by police on my bicycle and asked to not wear headphones (wired, Apple’s basic ones).

I’m also somewhat shocked the fine is that minor. Not hearing a honk or bicycle bell can be quite dangerous.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#575

Post by jnovek »

brailsafe wrote: post #469
jnovek wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that you don’t know what the person that you randomly chat up is dealing with. You could be doing this kind of thing to anyone. If I have earbuds in, I’m probably listening to classical music. It helps me self-regulate in busy environments. I’m not listening to podcasts (which everyone assumes now, I guess). If you interrupt me, I’m going to be polite. You won’t know that you’re causing a problem becau…

> You’re not interrupting my focus for me, you’re doing it for you. While it may be selfish and pointless, it's the default expectation that in public space people can be spoken to, but it costs something to remove that possibility without also physically isolating oneself in some way. Not all public space is necessarily social, you can be alone in a wooded glen which creates a proximity barrier, but trying to preser…

> it's the default expectation that in public space people can be spoken to

It is not the social norm that anyone can be spoken to in public at any time, you are oversimplifying things. E.g. it is largely considered socially inappropriate to strike up a conversation with a stranger on public transit when you’re squeezed in like sardines; we don’t talk to each other to give the illusion of privacy and space. It’s also not considered socially acceptable to have a conversation with a stranger standing at a urinal. There are significant social rules about which adults and children can speak to each other in social spaces. Etc etc

There are and always have been situations where it is more or less socially acceptable to speak to a stranger in public. Headphones is not a new one, I knew in the 90s that headphones meant “don’t talk to me”.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#576

Post by pwthornton »

j_w wrote: post #541
pwthornton wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wear my AirPods Pro on the train largely for hearing protection. The DC Metro is loud, with or without people making noise in the train. Different train systems have different levels of loud, but when the Metro is flying through a tunnel it is quite loud. I also often have them in while walking around the city for this purpose as well. I usually have the noise canceling off, but if an ambulance or something is comi…

The metro is a much less stressful experience for me with noise cancellation on. Without them the noise in tunnels just makes me anxious. The outside tracks are all fine without them though. And for walking around - it's the traffic noise that bothers me, not people. Traffic noise can just be so loud along some roads (and at certain times of day) that it makes me not want to walk at all.

Traffic and honking can be quite annoying. I find the AirPods Pro knock down quick a bit of noise even when off just because of their tips, but when I want it even quieter I use the noise canceling.

Some places aren’t loud but most U.S. cities are. I’m going to Paris this summer, and I probably won’t use AirPods while walking around.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#577

Post by gosub100 »

overfeed wrote: post #476
wafflemaker wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a way you're right, but what you can do comes from a significantly high spiritual development level. For an average Joe it's quite abstract and maybe even unattainable in this life. OTOH, there are people who get sensory overstimulated more easily. Add to that a foreign place, lot of people and chaos around, and even a neurotypical individual can feel anxious. Putting on headphones and playing Chopin is much more…

I believe we wouldn't have a tenth of the chaos we are currently experiencing if people talked to their neighbors and fellow commuters more.

What chaos are you referring to? What do you mean by "chaos"?

Re: The AirPods Effect

#578

Post by gosub100 »

goodmythical wrote: post #501
wvenable wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can sleep, eat, shower, and meditate just as well in the middle of a deadly riot ... as I can in a forest or a dead silent bed room. You should realize that there are people who can't do that.

There was a point in my life that I couldn't do that. To suggest that it is impossible for a given individual is different from suggesting that it is difficult which is different still from suggesting that it is suggested. I have personally benefitted massively from deconstructing the walls that my parents and peers suggested I build as a child. It was work to do, and is work yet to be done, but I value it. I am no l…

Why should you be bothered by people ignoring you with headphones when you simply could just...not?

Re: The AirPods Effect

#579

Post by itake »

oceanplexian wrote: post #539

Yeah, great article. But it should get to the point. The reason you need to physically remove yourself is because of the insane lunatics that blast trash music and do a dance while aggressively panhandling or screaming at you for trying to commute quitely on the train to work. A hallmark of daily life when I worked in SF and in NYC. A great way to fix the fake problem would be to aggressively enforce the existing law…

I’ve been in the Baltic countries for a few weeks. I do not see any of the behaviors you mentioned, but all the behaviors mentioned in the article.

I don’t think this is a bad music problems

Re: The AirPods Effect

#580

Post by antinomicus »

I have a family member who works substantially on some of the main design/components of the AirPods who might have a different take. He wears them all the time but, as this article fails to mention, with transparency mode on. Thanks in large part to my family member, we are able to hear the outside world through the AirPods just fine and our brains are able to process the audio coming in as real time and not disorienting.

Thanks to this mode the AirPods have now been certified as hearing aids and many other friends and family members have said the same thing: that the AirPods are better hearing aids than actual prescription hearing aids (which usually cost absurd prices)

I talk to those people with those AirPods in as if they have no AirPods in at all, and thanks to those AirPods they are able to hear me better.

This is all a matter of perspective and comfort ability with adopting new paradigms and technologies. You need not see everything from the perspective of “technology bad”.

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