Computing Comes for Our Senses

One thing I’ve noticed in public spaces over the last few years is that fewer and fewer people can hear me. I’ve given up on saying “On your left” when I run past people on the sidewalk because the majority of them have earbuds in and can’t hear me coming. At the grocery store, I see more and more people wearing earbuds or giant, noise-canceling, “don’t talk to me” headphones. They can’t hear me when I say “Excuse me” as I reach past them for a can of tomatoes. And as a schoolteacher, when I walk down the hallway between classes amidst a sea of Airpod-wearing kids, it’s unclear who’s available for conversation. With the rise of high-quality Bluetooth earbuds and their over-the-ear equivalents, computers (especially the ones we carry in our pockets) have begun to dominate many people’s sense of sound. I know a number of teenagers who go through the majority of their days with at least one Airpod jammed in. They seem perfectly happy to have this intermediary between themselves and the world — when teachers ask to remove them at the beginning of class, they sometimes act as if they’re bewildered by the request. And, lest I come off as a judgmental scold, I should acknowledge my own relationship with my earbuds. I love to listen to podcasts or music while doing mundane household tasks, so I often have an earbud in while doing the dishes or cooking. Am I listening to music on my earbuds right now, as I write this? You bet. My wife frequently (and accurately) complains that she’s talking to herself about half the time around our house. Whenever she tries to ask me or one of our kids anything, chances are that we’re cut off from the world by our earbuds. But she got her first nice pair of earbuds recently as an add-on to a new phone, and now I find myself talking to no one in particular at times,too, <a href="https://worldhistory.medium.com/computing-comes-for-our-senses-3288884c6cc">Read More</a>