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The AirPods Effect

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Re: The AirPods Effect

#681

Post by jasonfarnon »

itake wrote: post #579
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

You also see the behavior in the middle of the woods on a hike, or as the article mentions at upscale cafes. The whole point of the article is the near universality of wearing airpods. So a comment dwelling on US urban subways tells you more about the comment-writer's preoccupations then any sociological insight. And a top comment tells you mainly something about the preoccupations/demographics of the site.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#682

Post by hnav »

snovv_crash wrote: post #666
hnav wrote: post #651

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have come to the conclusion that until I am part of the landed gentry, the erratic homeless are a positive impact on my life. They may be a nuisance and cost me a stolen package here and there but when the “let them eat cake” types move into the neighborhood is when I get priced out. That is to say like inflammation is a symptom of something being wrong in the body, their plight is emblematic of the struggle that a…

Do you also think we should get rid of sealed sewers and keeping the roads intact in order to bring down property prices? Maybe this is a sign of deeper structural issues and we shouldn't regress as a civilization but rather fix what the actual problems are.

I’m not saying that we need to regress further as a society. I was merely providing a counterpoint to the argument that the homeless need to have their agency stripped because they’re a negative value to “productive” society.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#683

Post by Izkata »

Empact wrote: post #670
braiamp wrote: post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a easier solution by crime caused by poor people: they stop being poor. The fact that nobody tried is the thing that should be studied instead.

There's abundant evidence against this belief: * Lottery winners do not commit less crime than those who do not win the lottery: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31962 * Studies of identical twins adopted and raised apart shows that crime is more correlated with genetics than environment: 45% nature vs 18-27% nurture https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25936380/ * "While individual study estimates vary, meta-analyses have su…

Indenting that triggered monospace code formatting, which is preventing those from becoming links.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#685

Post by retired »

scoofy wrote: post #507
cassepipe wrote: post #348

To be fair when you live in a big city and you have to take the subway all the time, it just feels physically nice to remove the background noise whether it's the noise of the train itself or the musicians or the people asking loudly for money. I don't even have airpods, I have good old earplugs because I often too lazy to choose the soundtrack of my own life. It's not that don't want to talk to unknown people, it's…

I agree with this comment. Noise canceling headphones is the only reason I’m able to use the bus in SF. The author writes from Germany, which has reasonable social etiquette in place in most cities. That social contract just doesn’t exist in large parts of America. In Chicago, they have a real problem with people smoking on public transportation. They don’t make noise canceling headphones for your lungs yet. The peop…

Funny, Germany is the only European country where I spotted multiple people using public transport smoking while it was banned.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#686

Post by retired »

pwthornton wrote: post #576
j_w wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Paris is one of the loudest cities in Europe that I experienced. Bring your noice cancelling headphones.

https://leva-eu.com/europes-10-noisiest-cities-revealed/

Re: The AirPods Effect

#687

Post by angrydev »

euio757 wrote: post #518
ExoticPearTree wrote: post #328

It is an amazing piece of technology that allows you to ignore people at will by pretending you're not hearing what they're saying if they insist. AirPods for sure do not make you more lonely. It's about your personality. Either you are an introvert or not. > “No one talks on the bus. No one greets the barista. Even in class, students are choosing to listen to music instead of their professors,” Why? Bother them for…

>> “No one talks on the bus. No one greets the barista ... > Why? Bother them for no good reason? Those 2 examples for the article are not the same situation at all... in many cultures: "No one talks on the bus" --> very good, people are here to commute and want quiet. "No one greets the barista" --> Wow, you're a POS human being. It's basic human dignity to greet the people you interact with. Try the latter in a cou…

Baristas in NYC don't care about being greeted specifically. They want to take your order so they can move the line along. You will get a very strange look if you try to small talk in a busy cafe.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#688

Post by dredmorbius »

I'm old enough to remember an earlier, but not the first, generation of portable recording/playback devices, the Sony Walkman (1979). Note that there had already been about two decades of such devices dating to the first transistor radios (and headphones) of the 1950s. Arguably a crystal radio set (easily hand-carried or wearable, and functioning without batteries) might also meet that definition.

I don't know about earlier options, but the Walkman did become truly ubiquitous, and a large fraction of my peers had or wore these fairly constantly, with discussions at the time of isolation, as well as, fairly presciently, potential hearing damage. Another factor is that the soft foam over-the-ear headphones tended to leak a tinny resonance into the immediate area, and "sound leakage" was commented on and tsked about.

There were also concerns about the antisocial nature of the devices ... or the intimacy of sharing headphones (one speaker apiece for singe-head sets, or for couples, dual-headset options).

SSQ's "Walkman On" dates from that period: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48597698>.

I also remember from the late 1990s the first time I encountered someone walking down the street, talking apparently to themselves, using an early corded single-ear headphone with a mic. Mobiles were becoming more common, but were usually held to the ear. This behaviour struck me as much like what one might see from rough sleepers, though this man was far better dressed than most. The experience is of course now ubiquitous.

Those sentiments are well reflected here: "The Forgotten War on the Walkman" https://newsletter.pessimistsarchive.org/p/the-forgotten-war...> (July, 2025)

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44449970>

Re: The AirPods Effect

#689

Post by wolvoleo »

derektank wrote: post #444
wolvoleo wrote: post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wears a suit they have a reason for it, it's not something people do because they like the feel of it. Because they're really restrictive, expensive and feel horrible. They do it to impress others or to fit in in business. Or when they're trying to sell something. I'm more comfortable among other outliers.

If your suits feel bad you’re probably not wearing the right suits. They are expensive though, that’s definitely true, so it does reveal some of their preferences.

Good point, but I'm very sensitive to clothing. I just can't wear them anymore, and I don't have one that fits. The only one I had was just bought in a store. But it was awful.

But really a job where I'd have to wear one means a job working with business people and I would be very bad at that anyway.

For weddings I just don't go if it's too formal, though most of my friends are very polyamorous. If they even marry it's not a huge deal.

Re: The AirPods Effect

#690

Post by wolvoleo »

SoftTalker wrote: post #477
XorNot wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"SpaceX is a fraud. Its all about control. That's why in the future you'll be eating bugs because it's Greta Thunberg". I am only partly paraphrasing actual conversation with my father in-law. I cannot stress enough that what you think will work here doesn't : literally every topic will be pivoted towards a rant about which groups are destroying the future (all of them), or how it's all a conspiracy or how they are p…

It's equally tiring hearing about how every problem in society is a result of capitalism and how conservatives are all facists and are scheming for a way to bring back concentration camps and want to deport everyone who doesn't have three generations of native-born ancestors. There are fringe kooks at all edges of the spectrum and they are all tiring and boring. But most guys on the train wearing a suit are just norm…

Good point but that's exactly what we in the LGBT community have had to deal with for years now. After a while the will to find a common ground just gets eroded. But that is a bad thing, I agree.

And the thing is a lot of MAGA people do want these things. Otherwise they wouldn't happen.

But yes part of the blame lies with me too. It is as you say very tiring.

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