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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#581

Post by gosub100 »

bitexploder wrote: post #540
goodmythical wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's kind of the point the article is making though, isn't it? You're making a choice to insulate yourself from your surroundings. That choice has effects on both you and your environment. You see it as a simple salve, but the poor souls you're choosing to ignore see it as a just another bourgeoisie wall. I used to live in a prison. Headphones were a huge fighting issue. People who couldn't afford them would borrow…

I worked in Manhattan often in the 00s and early 10s. Have people forgotten what big city life was like before? Commuters did not randomly strike up conversations. It was an unspoken code you left each other alone. Especially in rush hour commutes. Everyone is waking up or tired after a day of work. It is more about having some personal space in a crowded environment for many. Not everyone processes or experiences th…

> It was an unspoken code you left each other alone.

Adding to this, you never know in advance when your interlocutor's stop will come up. So subconsciously you know it's a bad idea to strike up a conversation. Plus it's a captive audience so the majority of people sense that it's wrong to "force" someone to talk.

And the trains are noisy. It's difficult and unnatural to talk above the ambient noise.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#582

Post by throwaway2037 »

brailsafe wrote: post #99
wenc wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

    > Suburbanites want their palace that they can tightly control
Don't rich people do the same in big cities? That has been my experience. They live in enormous apartments or private homes and drive everywhere. The richest have a personal driver and assistant to do all the chores in their life. The difference with all the other people in that big city: They cannot afford to do the same. The suburbs allows the middle class a chance to get that (some) level of control that they can afford.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#583

Post by throwaway2037 »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #124
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…

> I don't remember any time in my life where it ever felt normal to me to randomly talk to strangers > And I'm not an introvert! See that's interesting, because I *am* an introvert, but I'm quite happy to sit and talk to strangers. I don't mind it at all. One of the few cultural similarities that I feel like London has with Scotland (where I live) is that you can just talk to people. People will talk. If you go to Gl…

    > It takes about an hour to walk the mile or so back from school because he's got to talk to all the old guys and ask how they're doing.
Wow, this really pushes back against the all might HN narrative that the world is now too dangerous to allow this. You have found a real gem of living. My guess: The farmers are probably all too happy to have a young curious lad to talk with a few times a week!

Re: The AirPods Effect

#584

Post by rogerrogerr »

SenHeng wrote: post #421
russdill wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be cool if this situation could be detected and when you hit pause it would actually repeat them for you?

So you want your magical EarPods to be always listening and recording everything from the past, say 5 seconds?

Already is, in some sense, for 'hey siri'.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#585

Post by tverbeure »

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…

> if that doesn't work, incarceration.

Sure, let’s “solve” a minor problem in the grand scheme of things with a much larger evil.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#587

Post by angiolillo »

poncho_romero wrote: post #430
fundad wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said in my post that I DO talk to strangers. It makes me feel good when that’s what I want. It’s also true that most of y’all are sus AF.

I find your negative view of humanity saddening. I think most people are basically good.

That is my experience as well -- most people are basically good.

But my personal experience has also been that the sort of people who ignore social cues and try and chat someone up who is wearing headphones while riding public transit or working out are generally less good.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#588

Post by antinomicus »

KolmogorovComp wrote: post #566

I’m reasonably skilled talking to strangers (can last about 3-4 hours in planes/trains/buses if the other party is up to it, after that I usually dry out of conversation), and do that frequently. However after several years of heavy traveling and hundreds of people talked to, you realize how similar everyone is. It is always the same issues, wife/husband, the kids, the parents… And it all starts to become a bit super…

That’s sad man - I also talk a lot to strangers and yeah most of the time you get average people, but then you meet that one in a million person and learn something truly fascinating or expand your sphere of knowledge or emotion or art or whatever. I’m always on the lookout for the next brilliant engineer, sensitive artist, or just a well read janitor.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#589

Post by kranke155 »

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…

Incarceration would be nuts.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#590

Post by throwaway2037 »

walrus01 wrote: post #51
HDBaseT wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and people still try and suggest public transport is great, when its a hellhole..

It really depends, I would much rather travel by NYC subway or Vancouver SkyTrain or Seattle light rail if my origin and destination are within walking distance. It's the least horrible option in many cases. Good luck to anyone's stress level and pocketbook trying to commute by car in much of NYC and pay $550 a month for parking.

I have a hot take about commuting by car from the suburbs into midtown Manhattan (the densest part). The trick is time of day. If you are a gov't bond trader, it it is pretty normal to get to the office around 6AM. You can easily beat morning traffic arriving that early. Also, your day ends very early, so the return commute is also easy.
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