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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#801

Post by try_the_bass »

parodysbird wrote: post #153
try_the_bass wrote: post #94

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…

I live in cities, and I usually walk around 15-20k steps every day for the last decade in cities. I listen to music or podcasts in my earbuds, and often I read stuff on chat on my phone as I walk. I have never run into anything, and never had any issue bumping into people or cyclists. It's perfectly possible for some people to navigate just fine in their environment while dealing with multiple stimuli, and in fact th…

But so you have a baseline to compare this against?

You don't know what you doing know, after all.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#802

Post by stndef »

bspammer wrote: post #389
stndef wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same! To the point that when I'm home I'm usually playing outdoor ambient noise mimicking that. https://moodist.mvze.net/

No doubt this website has a better range of sounds, but this is also built into iOS/MacOS as an accessibility feature which means you can use it even when offline. https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl3061cdc6/...

Absolutely, yeah. I use that when data is limited, but haven't come back to it in a while. Thanks for reminding me!

Re: The AirPods Effect

#803

Post by GJim »

multjoy wrote: post #545
GJim wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stupidly dangerous and (in my country) illegal. Please retract your comment and don't encourage such stupidity. EDIT: Since this is being misinterpreted... Earplugs that deaden sound are fine and encouraged on a motorbike, playing music in your ears is what masks other sound and is both stupid and illegal.

No it isn't. Presumably you're trying to ban radios in cars as well?

£50 to a spat out smartie says you've never ridden a motorbike in your life, let alone in city traffic.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#804

Post by aiisjustanif »

joxdosba wrote: post #762
aiisjustanif wrote: post #734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about in European big cities where that is not the case? Prague, London, Prague, Budapest, Zurich, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna…? So many people, especially not particularly poor people, use them to commute every single week. Notoriously, for some of these cities, it is slower to travel by car for your commute.

I live in London, temperatures in excess of 30C are frequent on the Tube. If I’m going to or coming from the gym, that’s fine. Otherwise it really isn’t. The metro in Prague is indeed good, it’s just not a big city. Zurich also has excellent public transport, but it’s really a village at best. Madrid has Barcelona beat, but still occasionally suffers from a lack of air conditioning frequently leading to absurd temper…

I also live in London and never specified underground or trains only for any of these cities. Buses also cheap and air conditioned.

Also 2-4 months at best out of the year is not a great argument for public transportation not being the better option compared to cars and parking that don’t scale.

Side note, Elizabeth, District, Circle, Hammersmith & city, and Metropolitan lines where many people work are air conditioned. So are the trains to paddington and St. Pancras from any “village” outside of the London zones. This summer especially it’s been good for me.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#805

Post by joxdosba »

aiisjustanif wrote: post #804
joxdosba wrote: post #762

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in London, temperatures in excess of 30C are frequent on the Tube. If I’m going to or coming from the gym, that’s fine. Otherwise it really isn’t. The metro in Prague is indeed good, it’s just not a big city. Zurich also has excellent public transport, but it’s really a village at best. Madrid has Barcelona beat, but still occasionally suffers from a lack of air conditioning frequently leading to absurd temper…

I also live in London and never specified underground or trains only for any of these cities. Buses also cheap and air conditioned. Also 2-4 months at best out of the year is not a great argument for public transportation not being the better option compared to cars and parking that don’t scale. Side note, Elizabeth, District, Circle, Hammersmith & city, and Metropolitan lines where many people work are air condition…

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a plenty of good public transport in London. I’m just of the opinion that unless you happen to live on a particularly good route, the experience is too inconsistent.

I love the trains, Gatwick express is downright brilliant.

> Also 2-4 months at best out of the year is not a great argument for public transportation not being the better option compared to cars and parking that don’t scale.

Temperatures in packed tube carriages are very high no matter the time of the year, the bodies of the passengers alone put out sufficient heat.

When the AC works, that’s fine. My experience is that it fails far more often than I’m willing to accept.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#806

Post by angiolillo »

poncho_romero wrote: post #621
angiolillo wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's fine to start a conversation with a women wearing headphones, just take it in stride and don't be weird about it if she isn't interested in talking. I do this (with men and women) a lot. Not sure where you're from, but where I live, headphones are a well-understood signal that someone would rather not engage in conversation at the moment. Some have been conditioned to placate the kind of people who deliberatel…

Eastern Canada, where people are generally easy going and friendly. I'd be surprised and disappointed to hear things are different elsewhere, but I don't have the lived experience to say one way or another.

I've lived in a few US cities, but the example of NYC comes to mind. New Yorkers are happy to lend a hand if you're lost, struggling with a stroller on the stairs, or something falls out of your bag. And they're happy to chat at a concert, club, farmer's market, sporting event, carnival, conference, convention, etc.

But a stranger gesturing for you to take off your headphones while you're walking briskly down the street or riding the subway just so they can make smalltalk does not seem socially acceptable whether it's packed at rush hour or mostly empty at 1:00 in the morning.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#807

Post by elAhmo »

aiisjustanif wrote: post #735
Hoodedcrow wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see nobody saying "good afternoon" in a grocery store , that's the one place where you keep interactions to a minimum. Also, self-checkouts are not always an option because at least the ones at grocery stores here never accept cash.

Lived in DC and this is very true, lived in London and would be thinking about it all day if I ignored a cashier. London it is polite to say please, thank you, good afternoon, and all other verbal mannerisms.

Saying thank you to the bus driver in UK felt nice. Doesn't really hurt anybody.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#808

Post by poncho_romero »

saghm wrote: post #775
poncho_romero wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can simply decline the conversation. It's not as big of a deal as you are making it out to be. I'm not saying you have to actively opt into social interaction, whatever that means. I'm saying its reasonable for others to offer social interaction if you're in public.

"You can simply decline the conversation" and "it's not a big deal" are entirely subjective and based on the assumption that being extroverted is normal. Your rules of etiquette are that I need to go out of my way to give people the opportunity to talk to me so that I can tell them not to rather than just signaling to them that I don't want to (which saves us both time and lets me quietly enjoy some music on the mean…

Your preferred default is also entirely subjective. I'm also not an extrovert. My friends all acknowledge my extreme introversion.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#809

Post by poncho_romero »

jnovek wrote: post #772
poncho_romero wrote: post #619

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we see things differently. I view conversation as an offer, with no expectations either way. Whereas you seem to put more weight on it, I'd guess because the ADHD you mentioned in another comment means interruptions are more impactful for you. I'm not sure there is a way to bridge this gap, because for me (based both on my understanding of modern psychological research and personal experience), a world withou…

> I'm willing to throw your mental wellbeing out with the bathwater on this, though I feel bad about doing so. So what, disabled people should just stay home? That’s your answer, just make society hostile to people like me? I bet there’s a middle road that you’re not considering, but because it’s not important to you, the disabled person should just accept a lower quality of life for your convenience.

I'd love to learn about this middle road. As I said in my comment, I'm not happy with my conclusion.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#810

Post by nosslin »

I hate articles that tries to blame one company like Apple for airpods. It is a global phenomenon enabled by tech i.e. earbuds, podcasts, streaming, internet calling etc.
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