|
Mobile Life: Addicted to My EarbudsIs it rude to wear your iPod earbuds everywhere? One writer finds out.By Rachel Metz 03/21/2007 
You might not know me, but chances are we suffer from the same affliction.
The affected wander around cities and suburbs, riding the bus, walking in the park, and hanging out in cafes, oblivious to the rest of the world. The signs of addiction are evident: We tend to sport earbud cords (white, especially) dangling precariously from our ears while snatches of music buzz around our heads. We're iPod junkies--tunes are our habit, and earbuds are the easiest and most effective means of transmission. You might be sick of hearing our tinny music and our tendency to shout "What?" when we don't understand simple directions, but given total sales of about 88.7 million iPods and more than two billion iTunes songs, I'm willing to bet you are one of us. I wasn't always this way. I'm a big music fan, and I frequently listen to tunes on my iPod while wandering around New York City. But I definitely don't wear them every time I go out, and my editors wanted me to do just that for a week to see how many people I could annoy. I quickly joined the music-addled masses, misunderstanding store clerks and fumbling through busy streets in a world of my own. Now that the week is over, I'm hoping to get back to normal, but I have a feeling I'll always self-identify as an earbud junkie. The most surprising aspect of my social experiment: People are so accustomed to dealing with earbud zombies that what may have been deemed rude behavior a year or two ago is now considered routine.
Featured Site Sponsors
|
 |
|
