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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."
Some women use earphones to deflect unwanted attention, finding it easier to avoid responding because they look already occupied.
People in general do this. 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. I would guess that would be the equivalent of someone's body languge -- showing crossed arms during a conversation.
I think that people are shy enough as it is. We do very little REAL social interaction as it is. Do we really want to become even more anti-social creatures by promoting music as some sort of "shield" from the outside world? Remember, the average person spends about 50% of their daily free time at home watching TV.
Music is something I like to enjoy with others at concerts and at home. Music is something that should be passed on to others. Nothing like finding a new genre of music you have never heard before because a friend had it playing in the car or in his house.
Just my worthless ramblings,
Dr. Michael Bull was written up in Wired magazine, too, and Slashdot carried that story last month. Here it is.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Wired ran an article on this guy a couple of weeks ago. So, if you wondering why this sounds familiar, now you know.
Some of us have to use headphones, as our music of choice violates obsenity laws and may damage small buildings...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
...because the programmer over the cube wall was constantly humming songs to herself. There's nothing more maddening than listening to someone hum while you're trying to code. Headphones were mandatory.
I dropped the headphones when I got an office. What a blessing.
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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He analyzes them as a "tool whereby users manage space, time and the boundaries around the self."
Or could it be that they just want to listen to music?
Nah....
I wish I had more opportunity to do this at work. Being able to separate yourself and focus on your work without being distracted it a heaven-sent.
Alas, I'm on a helpdesk. That doesn't work out too well.
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I don't see any empirical results. Have any experiments that he's done been reproduced? What are his methodologies.
Sounds like junk-science to me. The guy has a hypothesis. That's about it.
Here's my hypothesis: "Music sounds good. Noise sounds bad." Can someone write up an article on my thoughts? TIA.
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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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Wasn't the original walkman to shield the wearer from unwanted sound?
I know I need to use my headphones at work to shield myself from the disturbing noises from the nearby cubicles. Pointy hair people blabbing about pointless things, people clipping finger nails, eating, etc.
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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The whole reason humanity left africa and then spread out across the entire planet, is because most people would prefer to be left alone. We all want, for the most part, our own 100 acre plots of land.
This is my sig.
I thought that was what my Tardis was for.
I got tinitus (constant ringing for my ears) from too much heavy metal with headphones. So, be warned, it's not really worth it when you are home (I'm talking about people who use headphones in front of the computer).
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!?
would be an analysis of how ivory-tower eggheads over-analyze ever goddamned little thing in a futile attempt to make themselves seem relevant and get one paper closer to that all-important tenure.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Maybe we need a wearable version of those hotel 'do not disturb' signs. It would fit around your neck and display your request that you be left alone on your chest for all to see. It would also be reversible so you can let everyone know when you want your bed linens changed.
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.
I didn't know iPods could manage Space-Time. I guess that deserves the higher price.
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.
One of my coworkers once said:
It's going to be a headphone day.
What he meant by that is that he needed to block out all the annoying noise coming out of other people's mouths and so on as they came back and asked questions. I do that sometimes too.
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.
yet we still want to be intimately connected to others somehow. the proliferation of things like friendster, livejournal, instant messaging have proven that.
Even in the old days, people did not see each other all the time - once a week for church, or seeing people at the store.
People do want connection - but connection that is controlled. Even IM you can shut down or choose to ignore. I would say intimately is an incrorect term - asynchronously is perhaps a more accurate way to define the kind of connection people want. connections that are instant to them, with inbound connections that can be controlled.
Using music players in a setting with other people around is just a way of exerting some control over physical interactivity with others.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Through interviews with Walkman owners and now iPod buyers, he found that listening to music acts as a shield, aura or cocoon.
These must have been difficult interviews to get:
"Sir... uh... sir? Would you like to participate... sir? Can you hear me? Sir?!"
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.
My working day is spent in a cubicle farm. All day long I hear multiple phone conversations going on all day around me.
I am a developer - which means I need to concentrate, very deeply at times. The background noise level is high enough that I can actually hear various conversations for cubes that are close to mine. This can be distracting particularly when you are trying to formulate an idea or write code, as you will find yourself start to listen to the conversations, instead of following your internal dialogue.
To combat this, I sometimes don headphones and get some music going to drown out the conversations (preferably music without any words).
Ideally, developers should have doors that close to block out these distractions - they would be much more productive. Unfortunately, management doesn't think that way...so productivity suffers.
I just want some silence so my mind can think. Until they make the 'cone of silence' generally available in cubicle farms, earphones and music will have to do.
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