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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

I-Pod You Not

Maybe two of my readers are old enough to remember when the Walkman first came out. What joy, what heaven! Little tiny (by 80's standards) boxes you could play cassette tapes on and listen through wired headsets with cheap speakers. They were instantly banned at school, and since I practically lived there, I never used my walkman. Just as well, the box was small, but wear do you carry additional tapes?

Now we have iPods. I'm impressed by the bright little shuffles, smaller than a beltbuckle, holds hundreds of songs or dozens of sermons, even if searching is difficult. I do not like the ear buds, but I don't like headphones of any kind. Same problem as before, though. Where do I listen to it? I have a radio in my car and a stereo in my office and home. So when would I listen to it?

The answer is the problem. You would listen to it when you're away from those other players. Like when you're walking, shopping, going to church, or anywhere out in the world. You know, when you could be interacting with other people instead of listening to your own little world.

Raise your hand if you've ever talked to a child and discovered they couldn't hear you because they were Pod-ing? Don't iPods insulated us from others? Aren't they, in fact, a form of pride, telling all those around you "hey, you have nothing to contribute to my life!"? Aren't they a form of self-sufficiency?

Now, of course, there are ways to use them appropriately in the proper time and place. I'm just wondering how many times and places there actually are.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I missed Sunday's message. Maybe I'll download it and listen to it on my iPod. But wait, maybe that's too prideful.

Rob said...

Well, if you do it at homegroup tonight, it probably would be. :)

sherlock said...

It's called... listening to it in the backround. Though i see what your saying, for instance i can't stand the i-phone, you don't need all of your utilities in one palm pilot. But back to my original argument, i listen to my I-pod all the time but i do listen to other people. You see, it's like listening to the radio, you can keep it at a low level.

Maybe it's pride that you thinnk that what your saying is more important than Evenescences latest single? hehehehe

There are many appropiate places. If you spend 50 days away from your family in hillbilly country, you will see what i mean.

Maybe it's a generational thing, most of the kids my age that i talk to have nothing intresting to say; and can't seem to talk about anything besides the latest fashions and actors.

Anonymous said...

Sherlock,

I'm so glad that you are home! I have missed your posts:)

Rob said...

Are you home? I was thinking Florida looked a little brighter.

Some Responses:

Do you listen to people with the earbuds in your ear, though? If so, might you see how that could be offputting to the speaker?

While it was probably a joke, I'm not talking about what I say being more important than anything, I'm saying RELATIONSHIP is more imporant than Evenescence.

I think New York is a little north of Hillbilly Country, but I could be wrong.

Ah ha, Sherlock! If that's what kids your age are saying, take some leadership and change the subject!

I haven't actually seen the i-Phone yet, but if it prevents the Corporate Utility Belt with fifty gadgets hanging off their waistes, then I'm all for the i-Phone... I just can't justify buying it at that expense.

sherlock said...

Of course I was joking! That's why I put the "hehehehe" in there.

It all depends on the situation, if it's my parents quickly telling me to clean my room, get a life, or take out the trash, i'll yank out a phone to listen to them, and stick it back in when their done.

I definantly understand that adults will find it rude if they talk to a kid who doesn't take the pod off. I personally don't listen to mine when i'm in company anyway, i'm never in company so hey, why not? For instance, I don't bring Henry 2.0 to church with me, i let him take a nap back at the house. Kid to Kid conversations is a little bit different... For instance i'll say to felicity (who is anonymous) hey check out this song on my pod, she'll respond with, oh check out mine, and then the two kids proceed to carry on a conversation and listen to one anothers music.

So I think it's a little bit of a generational gap.

And western NY is a hysterical contrast to the city, it's major farm country/no economy/ juvy country.

and i'm HOOOOMMMEE (if someone read my blog you would already know that).

I can't wait to see u guys on sunday, tell the kiddos i have something for them.

Rob said...

Henry?

What kind is it, the shuffle or one with a screen?

I am thrilled y'all are back. Lynette has missed your mom tremendously, and without you only Mrs. Young posts (but probably won't anymore now that I've been brought low in her eyes ((in joke for her))).

Okay, here's another question, if you "listen to your i-Pod all the time" when do you think? When do you contemplate the cosmos and your navel? When do you meditate on the wonders of God? When a verse from Eversince hits you, how can you ponder it when another song comes on immediately after, perhaps by Dashing Clowns?

You stand there and talk and listen to each other's music? Do your parents know about this? Have you asked Mr. S's permission? That sounds so, so... I won't say it... nevermind...

Sigghhhh... us old bald and gray folks will just never understand the young and hip kids of today....

Anonymous said...

Well I actually mainly listen to Aric's I-Pod he has a LOT of music to critic. That was more an example, when me and Fe are hangin' it's usually with dams beks jake etc. etc so i'm not listening to music. But yeah pretty much, we all (the only three high schoolers in GC i hang with r Fe and Joshta and Josh williams) listen to christain music (evenesence is not christain by ANY stretch of the imagination). Mr. Swanson i don't know if you know this, but me and felicity have been good friends since we were like, 2 and our 2 familys hang out all the time, so you have nothing to worry about. (i'm still single rofl)

Music helps get my mind thinking, and since alot of the music on my pod (who was named Henry on arrival as a joke) is christain it helps me worship (however the gothic nothingness of evenescence). Actually i do most of my thinking between the hours of 9 and 1 in the morning. (i take some pills that keep me up in the wee hours) You have to remember that ipods are just a newfangled way to listen to music! And what's a navel??! My mind wanders constantly, but since high school has so much work i don't have much time for music anymore.

I have a Nano, it's a small one with a screen that helps u navigate through songs. It doesn't play movies. I found it on ebay with a warranty; i can't afford one in the stores.

I'm soooooo happy to be home!

betchacantguess said...

You haven't been brought low, you fell off the dang (can I say that?) pedestal!
Sherlock, you still can't spell. I thought that maybe while you were gone you might have worked on spelling! ;-)
(See, I'm using different identities. I learned that from you know who)

Rob said...

You know why they call them the "wee hours" right?

Who's worrying? Praying maybe, but worry? Naahhhhhh.

And if Everysense aren't Christian, then what I'm say IS more important...

(He doesn't know what a navel is, Malissa, you tell him...)

Well, yes, it is a newfangled way to listen to music, but that's the point. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's good (and I'm really not saying it isn't good, it's just a new temptation to shut out the world, and considering the shape the world's in, maybe that's NOT a bad thing...)

Anonymous said...

Sherlock, a navel is a type of orange!

sherlock said...

This blog is insulting, i'm flagging it. ;p.

Then why would I contimplate on my orange? I have better things to think about like this, if i have 6 weeks to catch up then why am wasting time on this blog rambling on about justifying i-pods when i myself think that kids can be rude with them??

AND I CAN SPELL!! I just don't have the time to go through my spelling!

overthinker said...

I am so blessed with the people in my life...ya'll are hilarious.
i just spent the past minute reading the blogversation and laughing hilariously...

it is rude to keep your ipod headphones on when sombody is talking to you, plain and simple.
unless of course you are music swapping, that's different. it is also another way to get sucked into the "its all about me and my own little world" philosophy.

but. it's frustrating to not have an ipod when you work 6 hours all by yourself every tuesday and could be listening to john piper or NA sermons. but you can't because you have to burn every single sermon onto a single cd to play it in your car...and all those cds add up to waaaay more than an ipod...
so i would like a 4gb old-school ipod nano in brilliant blue.

no comment on the generation gap thing. i grew up with records and cassettes for awhile. and i still have a cd walkman. in fact dvds are still "new" to me. *gasp*

i bet my kids will be making fun of ipods one day.

Rob said...

She did this at the Young's, too. Natter-natter-natter, then Dami waltzs in, summarizes the argument beautifully and wraps it up in a nice bow. :O)

Anonymous said...

I want to be like Damaris when I grow up! (And as smart, too;)

Sunrise said...

Ya'll are all hilarious. I've been laughing through this whole run of comments.

I guess I'm on the upper end of the generation gap; I used walkmans. But my memory of them is that I deliberately used them to shut out everything - you can really immerse yourself in the music when you've got headphones on. I don't think that's a bad thing, necessarily, although yes, it's rude to do it in company. I remember using it a lot on family vacations...which probably falls into the rude category - but then, I think there's a legitimate need for kids in certain phases of adolescence to kind of have a "place" of their own, and if you are in a house full of siblings then the only way to get that is to block everyone out for a while. Not to extremes, but just occasionally, in order to get a break and rejuvenate.

So I don't know that an ipod is any different than the old walkman besides in technology. What's changed is that before personalized music players came out, listening to music was a group activity. You know, your friends came over and you played records. And danced around and acted like fools. Now, you share music, but you can still only listen one at a time.

The thing I don't like about them is that the compression of the files affects the sound quality of the music. For most of today's transient popular stuff, it doesn't matter, but if you listen to classical or instrumental music, it doesn't have nearly the range or clarity in digital format that it did in the old-fashioned media.

Rob said...

Huh, that's good to know, Dami. Wasn't aware of that.

As I was walking around the neighborhood to help a neighbor I thought an iPod would be handy right now, but being the far extreme of that generation gap, it occurred to me that there was no radio on the iPod and I would want both. Just listening to the same songs in the same order could get boring. I want news and talk radio and commercials and innane DJ patter....

Anonymous said...

That was Dawn that said that, not Dami! And you can shuffle your songs so they don't play in the same order all of the time.