Of all my complaints about the way students travel around campus, abysmal headphone etiquette may be the most aggravating. Regardless of whether it is over-the-ear headphones, airpods, or wired earbuds, all these students are united by a stubborn inability to listen to music at a reasonable volume and an appropriate time. Constant access to devices is perpetuating our generation’s altered notions of normalcy, whether it is through a dangerous absence of situational awareness or the breakdown of social decorum.
Inventions like wireless headphones and earbuds, while wonderful in some ways, have embedded far too many distractions into our daily lives — and often at the expense of safety. Excessive headphone use is increasing our susceptibility to natural selection. Why, for example, are we listening to music on noise-cancelling mode when walking on the side of a busy street, arguably one of the most dangerous places to be with an inhibited sense of hearing?
Don’t get me wrong: I would not be able to live without my wireless headphones. They are a staple in my daily life — akin to an extra appendage — but best believe my music is at a volume that actually allows me to hear when a literal bus comes up behind me.
Watching my peers grow dependent on unlimited access to music has made their troubling lack of awareness of their surroundings much more apparent. I should not be the one who is embarrassed when I see a supposed “friend” and yell their name four times in a row at a steadily increasing volume, just to be ignored on account of the little white tumors wedged into their ears.
Blasting EDM at an ungodly volume at 2:50 p.m. on a Wednesday is a genuine safety hazard. The abundance of students on scooters and skateboards, which is a rant for another day, already makes getting from point A to point B difficult. Now, add a slow walker who refuses to move to the right — despite very loud hints from behind — to the mix, and someone is bound to get punched.
It would also benefit everyone to remember that there is a time and place for your headphones. Have we forgotten that it is plain rude to have headphones on while actively participating in a conversation? Keeping earbuds in while walking with a friend or sharing a meal signals blatant disinterest in the interaction; this increasingly common phenomenon is a testimony to our departure from previous understandings of basic social decency.
We must remind ourselves of what life was like before the nonstop presence of music. Noise cancelling exists for study sessions, working out, or steadfastly ignoring a yappy roommate — not for situations where one should be present and engaged or could very easily be hit by a reckless teenage driver.
When you walk to your next lecture, try lowering the volume, turning off noise-cancelling mode, or even leaving the headphones behind altogether. Take in your surroundings: birds chirping, students chatting, garbage trucks beeping, construction crews drilling, and all of the other melodious sounds characteristic of our campus. If not for the sake of safety, then do it to restore some sense of normalcy in a society overrun by hypnotized bots and their cancerous gadgets.
