I'm Walking Alone Again...

There's a song that came across on my Zen the other day by a somewhat lesser-known band by the name of Kinky.  This song, titled "The Headphonist" really got me to thinking about our so-called iPod culture and what it means for our future.  I guess the song itself needs some explanation rather than just divulging into pseudo-analysis right off the bat.

With vocals by Cake's lead singer, John Mcrea, the song is a walkabout from the POV of the title persona.  In this case, we're listening to the deep thoughts of any person walking around a city, sitting on a bus, or just anywhere with their ears blinded by headphones.  The crux of the song being that although there is music filling the ears of the persona, the world around them is silent.  Although it's a prime motivator, meditation appears to be a secondary factor to mute all there is about town.  

Right off the bat, it got me thinking about how one really does interact with the world around you when you're rapt by your own music.  When the Zen is in full groove, I really can't hear anything at all.  It's a prime concern for a few audio-centric scientists out there.  The music sounds too good, one is encouraged to crank it to 11, and what comes next but a blown ear drum or two.  Not a new theory since it was a warning with the onset of the walkman it's still even more of a concern now.  Who denies that iPods and the like sound similar to a cassette tape?  It's a sure bet that it will always sound better.

Besides the curse of impending (and probably never occurring) deafness, one really is blind to the world when you take away your own hearing knowingly.  There's several times where I don't know someone's trying to talk to me when those headphones are on.  Now it's either because the music is too loud or the headphones are too good, but it's probably a similar case for most people when those buds are plugged in.  How often does one see a person mouthing words in his/her direction with no idea of what that person could be saying?  Maybe it's often enough and in the right places not to matter, but is this isolation really a good thing?  How much less of the world are we willing to experience?

Supposedly, we're entering a new era where rudeness is more commonplace than courtesy.  Some blame the cell phone for this hypothesis, but can the same conclusion be drawn to the Digital Audio Player?  When one is on their phone, it can seem like there are only two people in any room, but what happens when it seems like there's only one person?  How about all those people that ride the subway with those white cords sticking out of jackets and bags?  It can be a welcome escape, but can you count on everyone to be polite when all that matters is themselves and their music?

Maybe I'm being too harsh about this in the first place.  There are plenty of people who are just as courteous with headphones as they are sans headphones, but I know there has to be people out there with no clue of how to act in the world around them when all they experience is themselves.   The cell phone correlation can also be misconstrued because it's the discourtesy of using the cell phone in very public places that many take issue with.  In the same sense, however, how often do you see headphones in strange places?  Probably the worst I've seen is in a restaurant on children, but this is a case that's very few and far between.  

I suppose it's when and where you isolate yourself and possibly meditate all the world away that makes the difference.  It's not a big problem to begin with, but one can never tell where things may snowball.  Can anyone else ever see this happening?  I really can't...