Headphones are a constant part of our lives. Whether it’s in the form of airpods or noise cancelling over-ear ones, they can be seen everywhere.
We all have excuses for wearing them too often.
Maybe you feel proud because you only wear them when you’re walking around. Maybe it’s a safety thing. Maybe you have one activity you do without listening to any music and that’s an achievement. Or, maybe you listen to podcasts instead of music so it’s “academic.”
Whatever your argument for what you specifically do, the point remains the same: we spend too much time plugged in through audio.
This isn’t a new concept. Headphones have been popular since the ‘80s and the mainstream use of the Walkman. Since then, it has been a norm for people to walk the streets listening to their music without others being subjected to it.
The difference is that now we have the ability to listen to every song and video on the internet. And we have bluetooth, which makes it much easier to be constantly plugged in.
I often notice that people have earbuds in even during lectures. Not only do I find it rude, but I think it makes learning harder because there’s multiple streams of information coming at you at once.
Gen Z also deals with something other generations have not: many of us are not comfortable with face-to-face communication.
In fact, since the 1970s the number of teens who spend time with their friends in person daily has been declining, and currently U.S. teens spend an average of four and a half hours a day on social media.
I challenge you to walk around after reading this and count how many people you see wearing headphones, and then count how many people you see who are alone and are not. I challenge you to question if those numbers should be more balanced.
But why should you care? Well, I think there are many reasons to care.
First of all, wearing headphones all the time makes the chance of meeting new people a lot lower in most situations. The chances of someone striking up a conversation decrease when someone might not want to risk not being heard or having to ask you to unplug.
LaMar Davis, a University of Oregon senior, said, “If I see someone I know and they have headphones in, I won’t say ‘hi.’”
When I asked about the concept of meet cutes and whether or not he feels it’s harder to meet people these days, he said, “it feels like now we need dating apps to get the feeling of locking eyes and starting up a conversation with someone now.”
Headphones are a huge part of our lives. They are incredibly useful in a lot of different situations and can make people’s lives significantly easier. However, it is also important to take a step back and examine how they may impact our lives in a non-positive way once in a while.
