Also in the July/August 2005 Utne, there was an interesting article called “Hell is Other iPods” by Caspar Melville. There was the comment: “There is no zeal like the zeal of an Apple Mac user; just try asking one innocently, as I once did, if there really is any substantial difference between a Mac and a PC.” Well – yeah…
However, then there’s a paragraph that talks about iPods adding to social fagmentation. It takes away from “community” and any sort of interactions that might happen between people in public places.
Being a person who is always about community, I’ve wondered about how the iPod will change life for us – in negative ways. I do not own an iPod, but not because I’m opposed to them. I think that they are very cool and always was jealous of Phil listening to books on his.
Other thoughts? What are the bonuses to the technology? How can we work on community? Or, is it already too late?
Posted by Heather Voss at December 2, 2005 09:45 PMMP3 players and cell phones make people totally unapproachable! It's definitely taking away from the sense of community.
Although lets blame Sony, the creator of the Walkman (and Beta video recorders), not Apple. Actually it probably goes back to the first transistor radios with a mono ear pierce for listening. You know those the little music players that were portable and ran on batteries and let people choose what they wanted to listen to and were available in different colors (sounds like an iPod).
Actually on the flip side I did a post ages ago about Amish people and cell phones and since they are big on community it could actually help to bring them together.
But the music and video players and people on personal conversations really take away from the community.
Now if the MP3 players broadcast and you could pick anyone up with in 30 feet of you and choose which one to listen to might add a little interactivity to it. If your not a person to say hello to someone in the subway, elevator, cafe, campus, etc. it probably won't make much of a difference.
Posted by: Gary LaPointe at December 3, 2005 08:11 AMSeems like every piece of new technology brings a negative side. We just had a lesson from our "geek" friend on how to burn/rip music and then move it over to our MP3 player. Way cool.
My biggest pet peeve, though, is those damn walkie/talkie conversations with their frigging beeps. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR CONVERSATION!!!
Where's Miss Manners when you need her? I swear, it won't be long before I totally explode upon being subjected to another one of those two-way conversations.
You've seen me have an out-of-body experience before, Heather, it's not pretty, is it?
Ah, I feel better. Thanks.
I think the real question lies in the first sentence of your second paragraph. How exactly do you define "social fagmentation"? ;-D
Posted by: Mike at December 5, 2005 07:36 AM