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The Psychology Behind Headphones
pvt_medic writes "The BBC has an interesting article today about portable music players and personal space. The article is on the research that Dr Michael Bull has done on portable music players. He analyzes them as a "tool whereby users manage space, time and the boundaries around the self." This article goes on to analyze the social and psychological aspects related to listening to music in public with headphones. A good quick read for those who do this."
Wired ran an article on this guy a couple of weeks ago. So, if you wondering why this sounds familiar, now you know.
I carry an MD player with me anywhere; I use it not just for music that suits my mood or for entertainment (life is more fun with its own soundtrack, don't you think?) but also to basically provide an excuse to ignore people (panhandlers, sidewalk vendors, ex-girlfriends...just kidding about the sidewalk vendors) that I don't want to interact with. But I never realized before that when I see someone else with headphones on, I've got this subconscious awareness of a kind of bubble around them which filters out certain kinds of interaction. I'd never think of asking a question or making small talk.
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Because it keeps me amused in study hall. ;)
Seriously, though...this shows how much we've advanced. 100 years ago, you had to go out of your way to learn an insturment (such as a fiddle) to have music at all. Now, people have an mp3 player filled with any music they want on a whim. People can be listening to their own sort of "theme song" when they're in a certain mood. If you're bored and can't just go away (like my study hall plight), you can just flip on a song that reminds you of something that's happened or you want to happen, and slip away. It's a nice thing to be able to do.
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and so are personal stereos, where I work. Something about 'not being conductive to the work environment'. The problem is that there is so much racket from people around me talking on the phone, chatting, etc. that you NEED headphones (or something to block out the noise) sometimes to concentrate on the task at hand.
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Well I do wear headphones at work regularly (even if there is no music playing) - it is psycological as it helps focussing on the matter in hand even if there aren't people discussing things in the room (though usually they are). A modern day thinking cap perhaps?
Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
on the street is when I have my headphones on. They don't care. I can be in a crowd of people and they still come to me - they guy with the headphones on to ask directions, for a cigarette, for money.
Don't these people know headphones mean Leave me alone!?
one of my own reasons for listening to music while in school is that it helps relax me and open my mind to whatever i'm studying at the time. nothing like bach, vivaldi, or some john williams to help you absorb vector calculus.
unless of course the students you're talking about are wearing headphones while in class, which is an entirely different matter. music in your own free time is perfectly healthy diversion.
It might look like I'm standing motionless, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away
A person I recently met was constantly wearing headphones. Indoors, outdoors, in his car (is that legal, btw?). It turns out he's done some hard time, and the only 'personal space' he was allowed in the big house was the world of listening to music.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
I read about this research last week and found it interesting -- so I emailed the good doctor and offered to participate. It took about 45 minutes to complete the survey that he sent, and the questions posed were, IMHO, very insightful. It made me realize just how much this simple device, the iPod, has changed how I listen to music and how I interact with the general public.
According to some ADHD experts, the rhythm of the music allows ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) to concentrate better, instead of being distracted by random conversations, etc. I know that I can't work without music on.
I think that people are shy enough as it is. We do very little REAL social interaction as it is.
Well thanks for you opinion regarding the behaviour of the people around you. But please note that it is none of your business to be telling people that they don't act like you envision. Are you going to force them into uncomfortable situations in order to get them to conform to some social aesthetic? Are you going to go on saying that people should act more like you because they couldn't possibly be happy otherwise?
Worthless ramblings indeed.
I do find headphones tend to keep most of the riff-raff at bay. Similarly, I learned in college that in order to walk through the main 'square' of campus, it was advisable to be carrying things in both hands in order to avoid being flier-ed to death by eager student groups. Headphones, a cup of coffee, and a bag, along with that glazed-over 'I'm not here right now' look tend to work and keep the tree-killers at a loss, waving their fistfulls of fliers helplessly.
Amor omnia vincit. Occasionally.
I had this argument only this morning with a colleague. He shouts across the office to another colleague and has ongoing conversations with the other chap at the top of his voice.
When I asked him if he could have that conversation over IM he told me to stick my fingers in my ears or to listen to music.
The problem is that I refuse to listen to music *because* that inconsiderate prick has the manners of a five year old.
I listen to music when I know I'll be able to appreciate it fully, not as a means of protection. In the best of cases, I'm unable to concentrate on work when I have music playing : I love my tunes so much that I generally need to be able to dive into them fully. Impossible to concentrate on work when I have some lush tunes in my ears.
I guess it's really just my problem seeing how all the other people here at work are OK with wearing earphones all day in order to keep the twit's shrill nasal voice our of their heads.
Bummer.
For example, there was an earlier article in Wired where Dr. Bull did a small Q&A and something in particular stood out:
I could never really put my finger on it, specifically the bizarre act of playing the same tracks in specific locations.
Now I know.
I see absolutely no reason for people to be listening to music while in any sort of educational institution.
As I work in large research lab/room in a education institution, I can explain this. Perhaps it's the way that some people are wired, but may of us seem to use the audio buffers in our brains to store temporary information about the tasks we're doing. If there are any sudden loud noises, then we lose track of whatever we're doing, and have to start over again. Such noises include slamming door, someone racking their printouts from the laser printer to get the sides lined up (that seems to get to everyone), slamming shut the papers trays of the laser printer, rummaging through filing cabinets (opening and slamming doors). The only way to shield yourself from this continuous barrage of random "audio spam" is to wear a set of headphones and play something calming. (My favourite is Peter Gabriel's "Steam" or USURA's "Open Your Mind" for 3D animation work).
Maybe I'm slightly autistic or something, but I've always found myself distracted by such information. Playing football on a playing field, and I'd find the wind turbulence patterns and the shadows of the clouds moving across the grass more interesting than the battle going on between two lumbering jocks at the centre of the field.
Wow, I'm glad to find that it's not just me. I have ADHD (non-medicated), but it's absolutely impossible for me to get any work done without listening to music. Headphones are great at work because even in an open cube, I can find some isolation without bothering people around me.
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As someone with ADHD I can agree. I'm surrounded by cube dwellers working on similar problems (network group). I keep a music player running all the time, sometimes low, sometimes louder so I can maintain concentration on what I'm doing.
I work better if I'm at home dialed in, but I also lose the interactivity that's sometimes necessary.
I've asked to see if I can telecommute full time. We'll see how that goes.
Shit better not happen!
It's true that different people have different appetites for social interaction, but you can never be truly human if you decide to block out everything.
;)
Of course one could argue that either a) your definition of what is human and what is not is sheer arrogance and simply wrong or b) that it is correct and being human in accordance with your definition is just not something everybody would aspire to.
For instance, I might say that you can never be truly human unless you understand vector calculus, but my s.o. would either disagree - or shrug and admit to not even wanting to be human if that is what it takes. For another example, I can very well imagine some religious persons claiming that religion is a defining characteristic of our species (history and society tend to agree) and say that you can never be truly human if you decide to block out God. To both of that my reply above stands.
Not that I necessarily disagree with what you say, but I think it's a fairly subjective point, and a fairly weak one in a discussion. Cheers, anyway.
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There's nothing more maddening than listening to someone hum while you're trying to code.
What I hate the most is people with those hands free mobile ear/microphone sets. One of my colleagues whom I unfortunately have to work with alot has this annoying tendency to transition into a phonecall in the middle of a conversation. It annoys the hell out of everybody who has to deal with him since he has his phone switched to silent mode so there is no hint when somebody calls him, (which happens alot) causing him to drift off into a converstion whoever is on the phone and completely loose any interest in whoever he was talking to before. I don't think I have ever finsihed a conversation with that dude.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
I work at a technical college and see numerous students with headphones on (I don't believe I have seen earbuds recently). I see absolutely no reason for people to be listening to music while in any sort of educational institution.
How fascist of you.
All of those who have worn headphones at the office without actually listening to anything raise your hand! [/me raises hand].
It's a great way to get people to leave you alone when you're busy trying to concentrate; something that's very important in the modern office which often lacks even cubicles.
Subconsciously or not, I sometimes put my headphones on, fully meaning to hit play on the playlist of the day but something takes my attention away and three hours later I'm still coding with winamp in stopped mode. But nevertheless, those were 3 uninterrupted hours.
in this age of communication i'm just not getting through
I can't possibly listen to music while writing code. You see, I'm a bass player too (the instrument, not the fish) and I wind up listening to bass parts and drum parts instead of thinking algorithms, functions and syntax. My coworkers get pissed, but I have this curse...
i prefer to strike up conversations with cute girls in my university. even just a smile and a 'hi'. since my college isn't really all that big, and for the most part everyone has at least one class in every building, i find myself saying hi to the same cute girls every so often. i've done this for around 2 years, and over the course of that time most of them will say 'hi' in return, and on good days most of them will smile back and hold eye contact. this may sound trivial, but for a lonely college student it can mean a lot!
an interesting thing that happened as a direct result of this was that i bumped into one of the aforementioned girls while eating lunch outside of school, and she asked me if we had met before. i told her we had not. she proceeded to tell me that she didn't usually find complete strangers saying 'hi' to her in school - so i took a leap of faith and asked her out for coffee so we wouldn't be strangers anymore. and she accepted!
so for simply being a little more courteous to the people around me, and taking some time out to think about whether the person beside me has been having a good day or not, i got an enjoyable date and a new (attractive) friend in return.
if that isn't a good reason to start conversations with strangers then i don't know what is.
It might look like I'm standing motionless, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away
I absolutely refuse to walk to my office without headphones. Every morning I walk north from Penn Station NY down 8th ave. I only have a few blocks to go, but it's like a gauntlet of questionable social interactions. People furiously wave papers for barbershops and other crap in your way, "Change? Change?", and the nasty people who spend all day hanging around hitting on anything in heels.
Add sunglass and headphones and the world is my music video. Not to mention I'm preserving my desire to have children some day by wearing headphones on the train.
Then I spend all day listening to internet radio so I can focus on my work and not hear the loud office gossip over from the next area. We have an open office design where teams share a large square space, all facing outward to a shared desk. Good for teamwork, bad for concentration.
I would get nothing done without headphones...and that only on the days I could bear to come to work.
True, and the percentage of introverts that have driven, science, art, technology and civilization forward is far higher than you might think. As to why these people were introverted: well, that's another question. Perhaps they just wanted some QUIET to concentrate on bringing the human race out of the mud, which is often difficult what with all the (ahem) normal people running around trying to socialize with them, or kill them for trying to break the status-quo. Some of us do our best work alone, period. Hell, if we'd just left our best, brightest and most introverted types alone all these centuries, we'd have world peace, free fusion power and self-sustaining colonies on planets of the nearer stars by now.
But it is also a mistake to pigeonhole someone as an "introvert" or "extrovert" based upon their behavior in one specific setting. For example, if I go to a party (rare, but I occasionally succumb) people think of me as being somewhat extroverted. I'm not the life of the party, but I'll get around and mix. On the other hand, at work I've deliberately encouraged people to think of me as in introvert. Why? Because at work I'm paid to write code, not socialize and make friends. As a software engineer my work entails sustained concentration that is easily disturbed by well-meaning cubemates: consequently I've had to train them to disturb me only when necessary, and at their peril. This helps me maintain productivity, and if they perceive me as strictly introverted that's just fine.
See, the true introvert a. wants to be left alone and b. will cheerfully leave others alone. Many people just don't understand or accept that, and keep trying to break down walls that really aren't there. Furthermore, introvertedness/extrovertedness is really a spectrum, with many of us just not so dependent upon social interaction as others. And again, much of the behavior of people at either end of the spectrum is situational.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Ha. But it's not just ivory tower eggheads who've noticed this. Check out the following pair of songs on the subject:
"In my headphones," Axis II by the Paranoid Social Club (also available in a live set on etree.org).
"Walkman music," Always Will be by J-Live.
Incidentally, I fit this profile to a T. I won't even go to the local mall without my ipod to assuade my agoraphobia. Listening to a walkman stops solicitors and panhandlers from bothering you as well. Shit, I have a pair of Sennheiser DJ phones that cancel about 32 dB of noise, and I sometimes wear them at work with no sound playing on them at all, just to help keep me concentrated.
In short, by supressing one of my senses I also supress some of my natural uneasiness in uncertain social situations and that's helped make me more confident overall.
Hey freaks: now you're ju
A very interesting study that dovetails with some thoughts I've had on the subject.
I've seen similar "control of personal space" with cell phones (and not suprisingly here in Los Angeles) automobiles.
All three offer a way to insulate yourself from your immediate surroundings, albeit in slightly different ways.
A simple example of this is driving a car thru a neighborhood, rather than driving in a neighborhood. The car is an environment unto itself that allows one to pass through another physical space with a minimum of interaction.
As an experiment, I've stopped driving my car in favor of public transportation. Granted, I listen to an iPod, as do many of my fellow riders, but even in this case, I am much less insulated. This is also the case when I walk to and from bus stops and rail stations.
I am actually preferring this mode of transport, and have a renewed love of my city. This probably has much to do with the fact that I am experiencing it differently, interacting with my fellow Angelenos more (despite my iPod), and actually being in my environment, rather than being in my car. Previously, much of my Los Angeles experience was that of being stuck on the freeway, "interacting" with other cars (and sometimes their drivers), most of which were either going too slow or too fast. There are no roses on the freeway.
I haven't owned a cell phone in several years, but I notice a similar phenomena. While one is talking on the phone, a large part of one's attention is placed on the person on the other end of the conversation. There is an overlap between one's presence in the real world and a sort of virtual telephone world. This is most noticeable with people using ear sets, and positively dangerous with people driving cars (especially SUVs, but that's another topic!).
I once watched what I thought was a crazy person walking down the street, ranting and raving about hockey of all things. It was a bit puzzling, since he seemed to be dressed to nicely to be a crazy street person. When he came close enough, I saw that he was talking on a hands-free phone, and was totally oblivious of his surroundings. Other than the fact that he was on the phone, his behavior was completely that of a mentally deranged person hearing voices.
Something of further interest that I haven't spent much time reflecting on is the passive aggressive nature of behavior I've observed in those that use these insulating technologies; especially obnoxious/oblivious drivers, loud cell phone talkers, and the now thankfully less common boom box wielders.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.