Personal Music Bubbles: Isolation or Escape ?
Personal Music Bubbles: Isolation or Escape?
By Sophie Johnston
When reflecting on the readings and audio pieces presented during class this week there were a few concepts and ideas that really stuck out to me as I previously hadn’t noticed or paid much attention to them throughout my day-to-day life.
Both readings by Hosokawa and Bull emphasize this idea that personal and privet listening devices, such as the Walkman and the iPod, transport the listener to their own unique music bubble which can alter not only the listeners mood but also their environment around them and how they view it. Everything Hosokawa and Bull talked about resonated with me as someone who enjoys having my headphones in, listening to music, and creating personal playlists that best fit my mood, transporting me to my own personal bubble.
However, it wasn’t until one of the audio pieces Dr. Herman played in class discussed this idea that when you’re listening to music and have your headphones in while out in public it’s almost like you, the listener, are trying to avoid ‘ear-contact’ with others, that it really stuck out to me just how isolating our own personal music bubbles really are. This notion that headphones and music can transport us into our own world is great for the listener as on the inside we feel like the stars of our own movie. However, on the outside, in the real world, it’s hard to ignore how closed off and anti-social these personal music bubbles make us appear to others around us.
In the BBC News article linked below the journalist further touches upon and summarizes this argument and the trade off the iPod has in the sense that while it is boosting the mood of the listener in their personal environment, it is also simultaneously making the public environment a colder, less social place. However, to counter this argument, the author also noted that while this is a trade-off, for people like commuters, they seek the escape their iPod provides them and don’t necessarily want to engage in a social environment while on public transport or walking through busy city streets.
Article linked here: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15066957
So, the questions I’m now left with are is this cooler, more anti-social environment the iPod has created necessarily a bad thing? What does this shift in environment and culture mean for future generations? And what sort of implications does a continual desire for public escape via music and headphones have on one’s life? I guess the answers to these questions will only become more apparent in a matter of time.
Hi Sophia,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you brought up this perspective from the Hosokawa and Bull readings. As I mentioned in my comment under Darcy's post. As a former competitive swimmer, having in your earphones, utilizing your iPod, before and after a race was the 'cool' thing to do. Almost as if being anti-social was 'cool'. I do believe this is part of the reason why myself and the people I always saw at swim meets for about 10+ years of my life, were never actually friends. Very crazy that I'm now understanding this years later. I did not feel the need to be anti-social or create my own bubble nor block out the world I was in. I always wanted to be present in the moment. I never understood why they wanted to be in their world even if we were in a pleasant setting. Why do we, as people, at least most of us, feel the need to escape? Regardless of the reason, the iPod did that for us. listening to music with your earphones in could you make you feel like you're in a rave, while actually being in the library. Just to add to your concluding questions, why is the use of headphones and iPods so prevalent among younger generations? Will our generation use these devices less as we get older? If so, why?
Hi Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post! You brought up some interesting points about the future of the function of privatized sound. This was something that actually kept popping into my mine while doing these two readings. I kept thinking to myself, wow if only they could see just how far some of these ideas have developed. This idea surrounding a personal space for sound is something that is praised now and often used as a way to escape the real world. Many push the idea that such technologies allow us to get in the right headspace for the day or wash away the troubles from the day. We also see debates that such technologies are taking away the chance for real connection and social life. I think its interesting how much our society has taken a turn in this sense. Today, I can't even leave the house without my headphones if I'm walking somewhere or going to the gym, even if I will only be out of my privatized sound space for five minutes. There is almost a sense of fear to face the sounds of the current urban soundscape and the dreariness of it. I don't want to hear honking cars, bustling groups of people, and busses coming to a halt, I want to hear the sounds that I prefer, even if it is just for five minutes. I believe that it becomes an issue of autonomy and power in this sense. I want to have control over my soundscape in the five minutes I have to walk to class because for the next three hours, someone else have control over what I hear. I want to be able to listen the carefully curated playlists I have put together while talking down the street because it transforms not only my environment, but also my mood. Listening devices give me the power to control my soundscape and escape into a bubble of sound that is mine and only mine.
I think in some of the issues you talk and about and some that I have mentioned we have to ask ourselves, is it a bad thing to desire a public escape or is it just a reclaiming of autonomy and control? Is it bad because we are disconnecting from one another, or is it good because we are creating spaces of sound that we truly enjoy? Like you said, the answers to these questions will become more apparent with time but I think this will also take us, as listeners and users, to challenge what we want and determine what is sound for us and what is noise.
Hi Sophie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your input! It got me thinking about my current situation. I just arrived in Canada and it already feels like another world to me. One of the most important things that caught my attention was how silent can be around here, it almost feels like they're all in their bubbles. In Colombia, reality is totally different, sound and 'noise' if you want, is in every corner. People is singing, selling stuff around your house and doing all kinds of things that involve sound. So when you asked about the changes and if they're necessarily interpreted as a bad thing, I immediately thought it depends on the environment you're in. When you're in Colombia and you have your headphones on, you can't escape reality as you would do it here. There's always something going on: people signing on the bus, doing shows at the traffic lights, selling food with megaphones, etc; so as you may think, the reality is also mediated through this kind of situations.
I may like to think that are levels of isolation and social environment impacts it.
Hi Sophie!
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting post and I was definitely thinking along the same lines when I was reading these articles this week. I agree that while the use of an iPod in public places does create the illusion of a colder, more anti-social environment. However, in those situations, if we weren't to be listening to music, how social would we actually be? I think we grew up in the era of "don't talk to strangers", so was this environment or this anti-social tendency forced upon us in the first place?
As a general rule, I think when people are with friends or family in the situations where one would typically listen to an iPod, they wouldn't and there would be some sort of conversation had. Or alternatively, the invention of wireless earbuds has allowed the opportunity for us to turn our privatized soundscape into something that we can share with one other person. In this way, it becomes an intimate experience between two people. I was actually at work the other week and my coworker and I were doing a task, so we both put in one of my earbuds and listened to the same music as we organized the backroom. So instead of this being an anti-social event, it turned into a really interactive and shareable social experience.
Hi Sophie!
ReplyDeleteReally great post! To answer the questions you posed, I see the value in personal escapism through headphones and simultaneously, I see the value in a communal "togetherness" in public. In a perfect world, we would find a harmonious balance in both engaging and retreating but unfortunately, it seems like with new technological advancements (like the iPod, smartphone, etc.) we tend to tip the scale as a society. It seems like in our generation, and the ones to come, there is an intensification of individualism, negating a sense of community when we step out into the world. Technology has caused us to feel a sense of "disconnected connectedness" in which we feel hyper-connected to the online, virtual world (through music, social media, etc.), and disconnected from our immediate physical reality.
From my perspective, it seems like our interactions with others are very controlled and pre-planned. We may engage fully with people we plan to meet, but headphones in public space have eliminated the spontaneity and unpredictability of sparking a conversation with a stranger on the bus, or saying hello to someone on the street (ie. the in-between phase of arriving at your destination). Personally speaking, I have worked service jobs in the past and I can't count how many times someone has walked up to my register, headphones in, and makes no eye contact with me. This is an example of how sound has the ability to make people completely disconnect from their surroundings, even in the most normal social interactions like talking to a cashier.
There is much to be said for the value of community and togetherness. I think that it's perfectly ok to want to escape for a while, or listen to your music while you walk through the park for example, but I'm at a loss in terms of how we find the right balance of staying engaged with the public around us. How can we find a perfect harmony if at the moment you feel like engaging with a stranger, they feel like disconnecting from the world? I would love to see if there is data about if the proliferation of digital music and headphones has simultaneously decreased citizens' sense of connectedness with their neighbourhood/city population as they navigate through public space.
These are some great questions Sophie. I think that Anisha used some wording that was really important in answering your question. When we rethink the idea of wearing headphones in public as a possibility of reclaiming autonomy over one's soundscape rather than merely as escape, it becomes clear of the aesthetic nature of the sense of place that Robinson suggests we try to create in that soundscape (to pass the time, focus, etc.), rather than just escaping the mundanity of everyday sounds. After all, the analogy of living in our own little sonic bubbles illustrates this notion of escape, which David Beer critiqued for reflecting a utopian zone of exclusion formed around the user rather than an empirical reality where only the sound of the listening device is being heard (i.e. sound leakage). I think that if using headphones in public meant that we were trying to escape, then you would not feel obliged to take them out when someone gets your attention and tries to talk to you. Is the alternative that everyone listens to their music on the speaker of their phone? Is the alternative that we don't listen to music?
ReplyDeleteHi Sophie,
DeleteI believe that you brought forward an interesting yet important element of what technology such as iPods and smartphones now create anti-social bubbles with the use of both Bull and Hosokawa. Similar to Hannah as an athlete it has been culturally accepted as part of your daily game day prep to isolated yourself from teammates, coaches and the world itself with headphones and your own music. All to be able to get in the "Zone" in order to be mentally ready to compete. I think the same can be sad when we collectively workout as a society, many individuals wear headphones for the purposes of "Getting the most out of their own workout". Therefor to answer your question I don't necessarily believe that these anti-social bubbles are a bad thing but yet culturally accepted way of becoming mentally prepared to complete a task.
However, on the flip side Juliana does bring up a rather interesting perspective in her reply. One that notions on the cultural differences between North American and South American and just how silent individuals in North American actually are. I never really look at it as a bad thing until she brought that up. Which is supported by Alanna perspective that our interactions with others seem to be more pre-planned and controlled versus naturally in an environment which sound promotes conversation. Technology now promotes isolated escapes from the world and your surroundings which in retrospect does not add to society but rather limits it.
Finally, I believe that Jonathon actually ties everything rather directly answering your question. Quoting Robinson stating, we try to create in that soundscape to pass the time and focus rather than just escaping the mundanity of everyday sounds. There's something to naturalness of society that adds a sense of community through soundscapes, and I believe that is lost with headphones. These anti-social environments makes me ponder if we should even be listening to music isolated from the world. I believe that music should be emphasized and there needs to be a better way to do just that. I know in Hannah's presentation last week we went into detail about dancehall and how communities come together, I wonder if that's what North American needs to adopt in order to create more inclusive community which they are starving for.