Monday, March 22, 2004

you mean you only knew this now?

From BBC, a research surfaced, arguing that iPod allows for the reorganisation of personal space.

Through interviews with Walkman owners and now iPod buyers, he [Dr. Bull] found that listening to music acts as a shield, aura or cocoon. Using headphones helps to keep the world at bay and reclaim some space. Donning a pair of earbuds also grants a certain amount of licence. They let listeners become witnesses without the risk of getting too involved. The earphones absolve them of some responsibility.

But what you listen to and when has a more subversive edge as well. It can undermine some of the messages aimed at you. Shopping for food while listening to a Bach violin concerto completely remakes the experience. It turns you from a grazing animal into something finer. In the same way listening to David Bowie's The Laughing Gnome would radically alter a dressing down from a policeman.

However, I'd like to point out that there is often a flip side to everything. Being permanently plugged, there are lots of things you tend to miss out on commutes. For me, just the other day, I was rushing up the escalator because I mistakenly thought that the train was arriving, when it was just the music to which I was listening, and I fell down! It wasn't much, but my shins hurt like HELL. And there is some nasty bruise too! God.

posted by Sharon K at 3:43 am