iSolated

This morning while scrambling my eggs for breakfast and listening to Aida on my iPod, one of my roommates came into the kitchen and started cleaning some stuff off the table and doing something with cottage cheese (I wasn’t paying close enough attention to see what). And I kept listening to my music, oblivious to the outside world from the look of it.

That bothers me.

I’m not one of those people who really cares if people walk around campus with their iPods on. Sure, it’s harder to say hi to them, and you hope they turn the volume down when they cross streets so they don’t get run over, but it doesn’t bother me. Let ‘em listen.

What does bother me is actually what I did. Or didn’t do. You see, I love people. I love talking with people, watching them, seeing what makes them tick, watching the interactions and connections when you get more than one of them together. (This is why I’m a writer.)

While I was listening to my iPod, though, I was cut off from this other human in the room — my roommate — and it was awkward. (Maybe not for him, but it was for me.) Awkward in the sense that the humanity in me was crying out to connect with this other person, but the earbuds separated us, and so we didn’t talk. At all.

Again, I don’t feel like I have to talk with my roommates (or anyone else) every single time we’re in the same room. That’s not what I’m talking about. It just felt somehow inhuman to isolate myself when we were right there, doing things that would ordinarily lend themselves to conversation. (If he’d been doing homework, I probably wouldn’t have felt quite the same way.)

New rule for Ben: when someone enters the room, off with the earbuds. Music’s important, but people are more important.

(For those of who you remember my iPod going on vacation back in October, by the way, my younger brother ended up giving me his for Christmas. Sweet kid.)

Reminds me of the seashells in Fahrenheit 451…

I agree. Oddly enough (and this is totally my own quirk), that’s the same feeling I get when I wear a baseball cap, so I never wear them anymore.

I read somewhere that human interaction is just as stimulating as any other brain exercise. I’d agree. It would explain why I never get bored at work anymore since I started working a public service desk. People are crazy fascinating.

I don’t listen to earphones when I walk from place to place as a matter of principle. My earphones are mostly for when I’m working on something and don’t want to be disturbed (like at work). At home, when I just listen to music around the house, I usually just play stuff on my computer so I can hear it AND the people around me. Lately, too, I’ve been turning off the music a lot more. I think in today’s world we’re bombarded with a lot of noise, when we could be thinking or meditating or feeling important promptings that we just don’t hear when we have little (as Ray Bradbury would call them) seashells in our ears.

I currently share a bedroom with 13 other people. I get along with everyone in said room, but sometimes I just don’t want to talk to them or be forced to listen to conversations I’d rather not hear. I love my iPod because it gives me some peace. More specifically, it cuts me off from other people. Alleluia.

Also, I love music. I like pretending there’s a soundtrack to my life. I have walk-down-the-street music, running music, reading music, homework music, workout music, museum music, etc.

Of course, my dear friend, I understand what you’re saying. But being disconnected from people is sometimes good for you. Don’t stress too much about it, and don’t feel guilty if you sometimes ignore other people because of your iPod. Just some thoughts.

Connor: Amen. :)

Bart: Fascinating. I can see that, actually. (I don’t wear baseball caps either, and I’m not sure why, now that I think about it.)

Ali: All too true — people are awesome. Which is why I eventually want to become a full-time writer, so I can spend my days writing about them.

Haley: It really is nice to have some quiet from time to time. I mean, I love music and really could listen to it all day long, but quiet’s nice.

Hil: Okay, in your circumstances, I can see why it’d be nice to get some peace. :) For those of us who don’t have 13 roommates at the moment, though… :P No, really, I don’t feel guilty all the time — just in the situations where I really ought to be connecting instead of ignoring. But when I’m working or shaving or whatever, I’m fine with listening away.

Haha, I have this great image in my head of you listening to your iPod while shaving and somehow getting electrocuted. So new question: assuming you have an electric razor, is it possible to electrocute yourself by actually cutting your headphones? Probably not, huh/

Haha, I hope not. I was going to say, “Well, I’ll try it and let you know,” but luckily some common sense stopped by and said that the experiment is better left in the imagination. I don’t think there’s enough power in either my razor (battery-operated) or my iPod headphones to do much damage, though. Maybe it’d make my stubble fall out. That’d be cool.