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- This topic has 15 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 4 months ago by Leapy Leo.
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March 9, 2007 at 9:24 pm #26560Leapy LeoMember
If you board a bus and somebody is listening to an i-pod at levels that are damaging their aural abilities as well as disturbing their [involuntary] neighbours peace why should I mind?
After all, it’s a free country and if he or she wants to lock themselves into their own world at the expense of community feeling, well there’s no law against that is there?
So why do I mind?
March 10, 2007 at 12:56 am #159058MrEggsaladParticipantIt’s not just iPods that do this, it’s ANY kind of personal music device. CD, MP3, or heck even phone. For me, usually on bus rides or whatever, I prefer to just sit back and relax. My iPod helps me do that in I just have to turn the volume up and it tunes everyone out, it’s nice.
As far as bothering a neighboring person, well I hate it when people play songs on their phones at a crappy bitrate or they have a fricken speaker on their player. No one cares what you are listening to, really, if we did, we’d ask.
So pretty much, they don’t help people be social at all, although going as far as to say antisocial…I don’t think it’s quite like that, I still talk when I am listening to mine if someone really wants to talk. My friends do the same as well.
March 10, 2007 at 3:01 am #159055TigerbladeParticipantI was actually going to write some sort of article/blog post on this last year at some point, and never got around to it. I own an iPod, and I use it frequently — more so when I was still in school, but still fairly often. Whenever I go for walks I grab the iPod, I listen to it at work (we’re allowed, no worries), I listen to it when I’m at the laundromat (I miss having my own washer/dryer), etc. Does it make me antisocial? Meh. Like Eggy said, I don’t know that it’s antisocial so much as a way to tune out — no pun intended.
For example, if I’m on a walk, part of the point of it is to get away from everything else. Just go off into my own little world for the time it takes me to do the circuit. If someone feels like talking, then that’s fine… but in the meantime I just want to listen to my music. Of course, are the chances of someone coming up to me to start a conversation lowered by my having my earbuds in? maybe. I know there were a few times in the computer labs on campus that there was someone I was going to go talk to, but saw that they had their earbuds in so I didn’t bother.
And yeah… I hate hearing people listen to music at crappy bitrates through their second-rate “music phones.” sorry, I have a walkman phone (sony ericsson w810i, look up the phone thread if you wanna see it) and I don’t bother loading music on it. phones are NOT ideal listening devices. ringtones, sure, but not music as music.
March 10, 2007 at 4:35 am #159054DavidParticipantForget that they’re playing so loudly that other can hear it. Assuming one is playing music at a level that is inaudible to anyone else, why does it matter? I listen to my zen all the time, and whats worng with that? If I’m on a bus, train, plane or walking to class, why the heck would I want to talk to someone? Either I’m walking with friends or I’m listening to music. Why would I want to talk to some random person? If there is enough reason to talk to me, you can tap me on the shoulder or grab my attention, why should I be idle in the meantime?
I’m not antisocial by any means, but most people aren’t worth talking to, especially if I’m relaxing or thinking about something else. Really, what are you going to get out of a conversation with some random person? I’m not one for small talk, if you don’t have ideas and something intellectual to discuss, you’re not worth my time. I can listen to my music and open my mind to other things instead. But if you do, by all means, tap me on the shoulder.
March 10, 2007 at 9:54 am #159063Leapy LeoMemberSorry guys but I find it hard to comprehend any distinction between “tuning out” and being “antisocial” but I do see a big difference between going for a walk where you know you will be isolated [infact that is the whole point] and sitting next to somebody on a bus who perhaps doesn’t share your taste in music, doesn’t want to hear your songs, is only trying to read the paper or escape into their own thoughts without bothering anybody else but is distracted from doing this by somebody’s i-pod playing too loud.
Doesn’t this amount to saying that if one person wants to be loud on public transport then they are more important than somebody else who wants to be quiet?
After all, like David says, they are probably not worth talking to anyway!
March 10, 2007 at 12:52 pm #159057sarahtownyMemberI recently took a train journey, reserved seats so I could not move, actually there was no where else to sit the section was full.
Anyway, this guy came and sat near to me, if he was not nattering on his phone for hours and hours, talking about absolute garbage (glad I don’t pay his bill!) he had on his ipod, loud and I mean loud. :rolleyes: Very annoying indeedy!
March 10, 2007 at 4:20 pm #159056TigerbladeParticipantWhile there are certainly people who listen to their iPod/walkman/cd player way too loud through their headphones, I’d say the vast majority of listeners can figure out how to keep their volume at some sort of reasonable level. The number of people who have their music blaring through their headphones/earbuds at a level loud enough to disturb you is relatively small.
I forgot to mention there are different situations that you could find yourself in, with varying degrees of antisocial-ness. Sometimes, depending on my location, I’ll have my iPod going, but at a pretty low volume — while it isn’t obvious to anyone else how loud or quiet my music is, it allows me to listen to the environment a little more closely so that if there is something I want to interact with, I can.
Then there’s the places where I need to drown out whatever is around me. Say at the laundromat… I’ll have the volume up louder to drown out the sounds of the washers and dryers, and the crappy elevator-esque music playing over the tinny speakers.I think some of it depends simply on your appearance, too. You could be sitting there looking unwilling to talk to anyone even without an iPod. If you’ve got some sort of scowl on your face, chances are no one will talk to you. If you’re sitting there looking like you’re just bored, someone might take the chance.
March 10, 2007 at 4:33 pm #159059MrEggsaladParticipantFor me, if someone’s music is too loud I usually ask them if they can turn it down just a bit. 95% of the time they will, and if not then there really isn’t anything you can do.
I always keep my iPod volume level at a point where I can sort of hear other people talking so I can chime in, yet still loud enough to where I can listen in peace as well. Keeping it at a level like that also makes sure that it isn’t too loud for whomever is next to you.
Also, brining up the point about how tuning out isn’t different than being antisocial, well it is. If you are tuning something out, at least in my case, it’s so I can relax, however if someone wants to talk I will still talk. Antisocial is when no matter what you won’t talk to the other person. Although I will say, an iPod is a great way to help keep people away, but people on my bus know I keep it at a level where I can still hear them and that I will join in a conversation if I feel like it.
March 11, 2007 at 9:13 pm #159064Leapy LeoMemberTigerblade and Mr Eggsalad I accept that neither of you are the type to play your i-pods at levels that invade the space of those around you and that you respect their space [even if they are probably not worth talking to].
I agree with Sarah about the mobile phone conversations in confined spaces with strangers around you.
Perhaps I’m being pernicky here but I wouldn’t want to have a private conversation in the presence of strangers who cannot avoid hearing every word I say.
I’ve only ever answered my mobile phone once on public transport and that was to my girlfriend to have the briefest of conversations as I was getting off the bus.
Yet some people board a bus with a phone conversation already in progress and continue it throughout the whole journey as if that’s their entertainment, their way of getting through the tedium, which of course every other passenger [except those with their i-pods on too loud!] has to share in.
Maybe I should start another thread about mobile phones on public transport?
😡
March 11, 2007 at 10:33 pm #159060MrEggsaladParticipantUsually for me anyways, I’ve found that I don’t really pay attention to what people are saying on their phones. And, if I am, I can make a game out of it and ad-lib what the person on the other end is saying. Heck, you and a few friends could all do that, bunches of fun 😛
(Just make sure the person on the phone doesn’t know what you are doing)
March 12, 2007 at 1:27 am #159053Jeff HesterKeymasteriPods aren’t anti-social — people are (or can be).
March 12, 2007 at 6:06 pm #159065Leapy LeoMemberMrEggsalad;216088 wrote:Usually for me anyways, I’ve found that I don’t really pay attention to what people are saying on their phones. And, if I am, I can make a game out of it and ad-lib what the person on the other end is saying. Heck, you and a few friends could all do that, bunches of fun 😛(Just make sure the person on the phone doesn’t know what you are doing)
You made me smile with that one Mr Salad!
If I were more than a quarter of a century younger than I am today I would certainly have played that game. That would have been my type of fun.
Nice one.
😀
March 17, 2007 at 12:17 pm #159061MrOatsMemberLike Tigerblade & Eggsalad, I keep my ipod at a volume where I can somewhat hear my outside enviroment. (So I can hear other people).
I don’t think that iPods are “anti-social”. I wear my iPod when I walk to school sometimes, am running on a treadmill or outside running, walking the dog, or just relaxing at home. This is where interaction with others is not required at all times or at full attention… Is this antisocial?
There are many factors that go into someone being anti-social, just listening to an iPod doesn’t make you “anti-social”, in my opinion.
March 29, 2007 at 8:21 am #159066Leapy LeoMemberYou make a good case for i-pod wearers Mr Oates.
Whether it is anti-social or not must be down to the individual wearers, and whereas some of them may play it too loud or make it obvious they are more into the music than conversation by their attitude, I know that most people would not expect to have a conversation with somebody who is out runnung or working out on a treadmill. It is understood that you go into your own world at those times.
I tried to wear the 1980s equivilant [known as a “Walkman”] when I was out running myself but they always ended up slipping out of my ears with the motion so I gave up on it.
March 30, 2007 at 2:30 am #159062MrOatsMemberLeapy Leo;216950 wrote:I tried to wear the 1980s equivilant [known as a “Walkman”] when I was out running myself but they always ended up slipping out of my ears with the motion so I gave up on it.Heh, how technology has changed! :p
I think that this “iPods…Anti-social?” issue will always remain an interesting topic through time, because there are so many factors that go into it, as well as opinions of individuals/groups.
Thanks for bringing up this topic. (+ rep.) 🙂
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