You see them everywhere, on the “L” and on the street, white cords and earplugs winding through scarves and under hats.
Some people wear their iPods at home, to drown out roommates or the sound of the television. Some people wear them at work, to lesson the drudgery of whatever they’re doing. Some take out only one earpiece to talk on their cell phones. And many spend countless hours online, downloading songs by the dozens.
Apple has sold more than 10 million iPods, thanks in part to the last quarter of 2004, when the company sold about
4.6 million iPods–a 525 percent boost from the holiday quarter of 2003.
For some, it’s clearly become a problem.
“My boyfriend is like an addict,” said Robyn Genc, 23, of Wicker Park. “There’s not enough time to listen everything he’s got. But it’s never enough for him.”
“It’s annoying,” Rush nursing student Sarah Pihl, 27, said of friends who sit at lunch or in study groups with one ear on the conversation and the other on the latest upload.
Pihl uses her iPod when studying but refuses to wear it on the street. She also worries about isolation. “It definitely puts up a barrier,” she said, pointing out that the white cords can make you a target. “I want to be aware of my surroundings.”
Indeed, wearing an iPod can be dangerous. Just before Thanksgiving, 35-year-old Kim Barry, an NYU law school graduate, was hit and killed by a truck as she walked down the street wearing her iPod, apparently unable to hear bystanders telling her to watch out.
“She was crossing the street and had stepped off of the curb,” said Detective Mike Singer, community affairs officer for the Sixth Precinct in New York City. “Witnesses on the street were yelling, but she couldn’t hear them.” She later died of her injuries.
“I used to never study with music,” said Loyola medical student Matthew Hiro, 27, of Schaumburg. “But now I find that I am more sensitive to other conversations. I feel like I need it to study.”
Gabriel Sherman, a 25-year-old reporter for the New York Observer, gave up his iPod last year when he felt he had become addicted.
“I had grown increasingly numb to my surroundings, often oblivious to the world around me, trapped in a self-imposed bubble,” he wrote in a piece for the Observer, citing instances such as missing his train and almost getting hit by a truck as part of the problem. He thought constantly about what song he would play the next time he had an opportunity to use his iPod. He even wore his iPod on the toilet.
“It’s gotten easier” to live without it, he said. “Before, it all became kind of background music. Now I appreciate music more.”
But not everyone is willing to give it up.
“It’s difficult to define what’s addiction when it comes to media,” said “Digital” Dan Dubno, national technology expert for CBS News, who said he carries his iPod everywhere.
Still, there are some circumstances when even Dubno thinks it can go too far.
“I find it disconcerting when I’m hanging out with other parents and instead of paying attention to the kids or joining the conversation they’re listening to their iPods,” he said.
Some experts believe it is possible to love (or use) your iPod too much.
Christine Rosen, a 31-year-old fellow at the Center on Ethics and Public Policy in Washington, D.C., said iPods contribute to isolationism.
“There are certain unspoken rules of public space, and what the iPod does is break those rules,” said Rosen. IPod users are “not available to interact with those around them,” whether they are being greeted or asked for directions or assistance.
Cass Sunstein, a University of Chicago Law professor who has written extensively on the topic of technology and isolation, said “it’s good for people to expose themselves to different people and topics … otherwise, people narrow their horizons.”Still, having people around love their iPods can have its advantages.
“There’s a guy here [at work] who’s willing to do all the side work at the end of the shift because he can listen to his iPod,” said waitress/actress Joanna Peot, 23, who recently moved to Chicago and works at Penny’s Noodle Shop on Damen.
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iPod do’s and don’t’s
As with other new technologies, there is no official set of rules when it comes to iPod etiquette, and some advice is contradictory.
For example:
– Remove both earbuds during a job interview, when taking your drivers’ test and when talking to your sweetie, according to Apple’s Web site.
– Consider your safety, said ethics expert Christine Rosen. “Don’t wear it on the street,” she said. “It’s dangerous for you and dangerous for others. You’re not engaged in your surroundings.”
– Don’t wear your iPod when talking to other people or even around other people you know. CBS’ “Digital” Dan Dubno calls this “half-in, half-out” behavior “kind of offensive.”
– Wearing an iPod on the bus or walking down a dark street might make you feel more safe but can actually make you vulnerable to criminals, Chicago nursing student Sarah Pihl said. “I want to be aware of my surroundings.”
– Don’t wear your earbuds in class, unless you want to piss off your professor.
“I haven’t seen anyone be rude enough to do that,” Dubno said.
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What the RedEye staff is addicted to
Diet Coke
TiVo
Chat rooms
Text messaging
Shopping
Sex
Palm Pilots
Chocolate
McDonald’s Extra Value Meals
Laser level
Chipotle
Britney’s “Greatest Hits”
