Oblivious people who CONSTANTLY have music in their ears. (luxury, college)

[deevel79]

I cant for the life of me understand why someone would want music in thier ears ALL THE TIME. I ride the train to/from work everyday and everyday I see a great deal of people with ipods/iphones blasting music into their ears and tuned out to the world. I see them standing at the edge of the platform looking for the train and if there was someone right behind them ready to push them in, they wouldnt even know it because they're too focused on jamming to their favorite tunes. I see them crossing the streets almost getting killed because they dont hear the car honking or the bicyclist yelling out to them.

Maybe its just me but I like to be alert when on the streets of NYC. I want to be able to hear if theres something going down around me. Do I like music? Sure! I have my music on when at the gym, in my car, at home, or at a bar/lounge. I'll even have my earbuds handy with me while on the train just in case I have the luxury of sitting next to a crying child or 2 chatty women.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, why would anyone want to have music in their ears all the time?

[NYChistorygal]

Listening while commuting is hardly 'all the time'. And you can listen to music and still be completely alert.

[skyway31]

For myself, I am frequently listening to talk radio podcasts. So, I get the break from music. Also, talk radio podcasts aren't as loud or distracting as music generally anyway.

[geoking66]

I love having background music, but I play it very lightly. It's just pleasant, nothing more to it. I don't get the people who blast it, though. That's just rude.

[Harlem resident]

Originally Posted by deevel79

I cant for the life of me understand why someone would want music in thier ears ALL THE TIME. I ride the train to/from work everyday and everyday I see a great deal of people with ipods/iphones blasting music into their ears and tuned out to the world. I see them standing at the edge of the platform looking for the train and if there was someone right behind them ready to push them in, they wouldnt even know it because they're too focused on jamming to their favorite tunes. I see them crossing the streets almost getting killed because they dont hear the car honking or the bicyclist yelling out to them.

Maybe its just me but I like to be alert when on the streets of NYC. I want to be able to hear if theres something going down around me. Do I like music? Sure! I have my music on when at the gym, in my car, at home, or at a bar/lounge. I'll even have my earbuds handy with me while on the train just in case I have the luxury of sitting next to a crying child or 2 chatty women.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out is, why would anyone want to have music in their ears all the time?

Because people are not smart.

It is first of all the music, but more importantly the ways in which they are training their brains into a kind of constant distraction mode. This compromises thinking ability in a major way. There is already writing about this, something about which people have zero awareness because ... well, see comment above.

[nightcrawler]

Originally Posted by Harlem resident

Because people are not smart.

It is first of all the music, but more importantly the ways in which they are training their brains into a kind of constant distraction mode. This compromises thinking ability in a major way. There is already writing about this, something about which people have zero awareness because ... well, see comment above.

BINGO!!!

the best is the people with ear phones in their ears crossing streets and not even looking.

we have a large amount of stupid people living here.

I don't walk around with the earphone in my ears, it is too distracting to me.

[Lital_The_Best]

I get what you're saying and I'm kind of guilty of this to a degree.

When I'm walking in the city, it just helps me get to where I got to get to much faster and keeps me awake and energized. Oddly enough, it keeps me alert in some way. Since my ears are listening to music as I am walking and are obviously blocked of hearing outside noise, my sight happen to be more alert and a few feet before I hit the sidewalk to cross the street, I lower the volume to hear any bikers are on coming cars.

When I'm on the train, I keep my volume at a minimum to hear what's going on around me and if there's any train alerts. I only blast it if some annoying loud mouths are on the train and I can't stand to hear them. Of course when I'm shopping, I turn off my device and/or music.

It is annoying when people CONSTANTLY need their music for every single little thing. I noticed this thing when I went to college, some people would have their music on FULL BLAST while they were in the building....

[11KAP]

I get the impression that it is just
kind of anti-social; basically to keep
random guys in public places from
talking to all the pretty girls lol.

[bellakin123]

I listen to music during my commute every day because: a) I don't want to hear the loud and ridiculous phone conversations, b) I don't want to hear other people blasting music that I don't like and c) I don't want to hear the ridiculous conversations between people, whether they be in English or a foreign language. I used to read books all the time but with all the noise around, I found I just couldn't focus on the book. I don't like reading while I have music on because then I tend to not really focus on the book. Like someone else said, you can certainly be alert while listening to music. My peeve is people who walk and text and are not alert, but that's a whole other topic.

[ceecee09]

Sometimes I keep my headphones in without even listening to music. It blocks out the annoying/ ear-damaging train noise and keeps weirdos from talking to me. I think a lot of people do this.