“It seems iPod people have taken over the world. They’re in the airport, waiting for the bus, studying in coffeehouses, working out in the gym, even laboring beside you in the office. With the help of little MP3 players, these people create their own mini universes, shuffling along listening to whatever they want, wherever they feel in the mood,’ Kimberly Hayes Taylor writes for The Detroit News. “iPod users, who also call themselves ‘iPeople,’ say they can’t get enough of the music downloaded from computer hard drives, the Internet and CD collections.”
“To do that, they’ve snapped up more than 10 million iPods since the cute gadgets were introduced Nov. 21, 2001 — 8.2 million of them last year alone. While these creatures remain in their own worlds, obviously ignoring the rest of us, unbeknownst to them, their behavior is being studied. Cultural anthropologists and techno experts wonder what the impact of their actions will be. At this point, experts are still grappling for answers,” Taylor writes. “Do iPeople just want to be alone? Should we talk to them? Will they change society as we know it?”
Taylor writes, “Alex Halavais, a professor at State University of New York at Buffalo, thought he knew the answers until a few days ago when a conversation with a student left him shocked and confused. ‘She was talking to me, her professor, and she kept her earplugs in the entire time!’ exclaims the assistant professor of informatics. ‘She seemed to be listening. She nodded in all the appropriate times. But I couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t remove the plugs.’ Now, Halavais says he’s bracing himself for the moment a student dares to sit in his class with earplugs in.”
His examination of this new breed has provided some revelations:
• It’s fine to interrupt a co-worker who’s wearing ear buds. That was established decades ago when Walkmans were popular.
• You shouldn’t be offended if iPeople listen to their music instead of you because it’s not about you. “They don’t think of this as ‘I’m listening to music,’ ” Halavais says. “They think of it as ‘I’m listening to my own soundtrack.’ “
• People with plugs in will speak to you if you greet them first.
• If the iPeople and their constant need for ear buds rub you the wrong way, you should hurry up and get over it. You may as well, Halavais says, they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Taylor writes, “Think of it this way, he says: Remember a few years ago when someone’s cell phone rang at work or in a restaurant and everyone turned around, stared and instantly hated the phone’s owner? Now, that doesn’t bother you at all, does it? ‘It’s a new technology,’ Halavais says. ‘Just like ringing cell phones, you’ll get used to it.’ And there’s much to love about iPods, their owners say… Are iPod people sort of weird? ‘Yes,’ Halavais says. ‘The iPod people are also serious Macintosh people. That’s already a cult. They were weird already. Once they built them in a little white case they could carry around and wear like jewelry, people say, ‘I have to have them.’ That’s the social part of them. They are in the network.'”
Full article here.
“iPod Culture”
Its not world wide yet though.
Hmmm, just watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Did anyone else notice the new Power books?
what are your reactions?
ooops, I am a bit late.
sorry….
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“The iPod people are also serious Macintosh people.”
Is he serious? Has he lost touch with the real world? I would suspect that a large proportion of these people are from over on the dark side
Taylor writes, “Think of it this way, he says: Remember a few years ago when someone’s cell phone rang at work or in a restaurant and everyone turned around, stared and instantly hated the phone’s owner? Now, that doesn’t bother you at all, does it?
I still hate it!
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I’ve been lost in my own soundtrack since Apple first introduce the iPod. But its a two way street, while its easy to say to the rest of the world get use to it, there are some things us iPod users can do to ease folks along. Some may not go as far as me, because I have a job that’s dependent on making people feel they are important. So the first thing I did was
1) replace the Apple white earbuds. They stand-out, too much. I replaced with a nice hard to see over the ear earphone in a basic black that blends in with everything except my white shirts
2) Removed white shirts from my normal dress palette
3) Wear cording under clothes, so the earplug comes up under my shirt and out into my ears.
4) Wear ONLY one earphone. This is important to make you more responsive to what’s going on around you
5) Learn how to control the iPod from within your pocket, this is super important for those long, drawn out meeting, that are a waste of time, except that something always gets added to your work load
6) Keep the iPod volume at a reasonable level, so that someone standing within 1ft of you can’t hear the music. This also helps with number 7
7) Don’t shout when speaking to others, while your music is playing. This may take some adjustment to get your vocal volume correct, but remember just because you can’t hear you doesn’t mean others can’t
8) Last but not least, don’t dance or bop your head, while someone’s spilling out some tragedy to you. This is especially important if you listen to comedy albums like I do on occasion. Its inappropriate to laugh and or smile when your best friend, or family member is discussing their most recent break-up, dead cat, fish, or plant. But lets admit its always tempting to have music on in one ear, when you listen to yet another sobbing break-up story, and wonder why anyone would give your friend a fish or plant as a gift (haven’t they been too their house).
So there you go, 8 steps to creating your own iPod universe while still pretending to exist in the daily drudgery of life. Obviously the less important it is for you to actually care if other people know your listening to music while speaking to them, the less important some steps will be. I’ve managed to go for the last few years with only one or two people ever noticing the earphone in during a meeting or conversation.
I was at the grocery store tonight, and the checkout girl kept on asking me the same questions over and over again, even though I heard and answered her appropriately each time. I was trying listening to Ozzmotti, but she kept on interrupting me. How rude!
Weird? I’m NOT FRIGGING WEIRD!!!
It’s the the rest of the world that’s a slave to M$ Stockholm Syndrome!
Bill Gates is the unstable one, his doodle says so. The nut doctors say so.
It’s the whole abortion of corporate america and the total mind fsck they got people under.
I’m a Mac user, I’m FREE!!!
Now excuse me while I run naked down the road in the rain.
Woohohoho!
iPeople? I’ve been using an iPod for 3 years now, and have never once heard this title….. I think it sounds like a pure spin term.
Beryllium: I couldn’t agree with you more – this is the only failing point of the whole piece!
allgood2: Very good strategy!
As a freelancer, I spend a lot of time commuting to and from work every day, on loud trains and subways. Apple’s headphones weren’t load enough over the ambient noise (and I didn’t want to go deaf cranking the volume up), so I researched and bought a pair of Etymotic noise blocking headphones (ER-6’s) and then picked up their iPod versions, the ER-6i’s. Far superior and less cumbersome than noise canceling headphones (although an interesting technology to be certain), my music really has become the soundtrack to my day. Now that background noise is not a problem, I have to be more careful crossing the street, and making sure I am not being inadvertently rude to somebody trying to talk to me (for all intensive purposes, I am walking around almost deaf!). If I think I hear an announcement, or that maybe I should be paying more attention to what is going on around me, I can pull one of the headphones partially out of my ear to let enough of the sound in to know what’s going on.
I am working in London these days, and it seems that after the New Year, about twice as many people are walking around with iPods than before – the amount of iPeople keeps growing and growing!
I was an early adaptor – 39 months of being an iPerson, and 4 iPods later (upgrading only – no problems!), I still love it! It radically changed the way I access and listen to music, and I haven’t looked back…
I like the white cables of my headphones. Why would anyone replace them with ordinary black ones? That is like arranging all your OS X desktop icons to the left side of the screen. If other people do not like icons on the right side or white cables then that is too bad.
izod- I almost got the ER-6i’s, except I was afraid of canceling out too much ambient sound. Of course only keeping one ear plugged in would help, but I thought if I was going to do that, why spend all that money on the ER-6i’s.
Sol- Why would anyone replace the white earbuds, because they STAND OUT. That’s great when you want them to stand out, when you want to be a target in risky neighborhoods, or when your telling your clients f*ck you, I’m not really listening. But when you don’t want or need to be notice, choosing a headphone that practically disappears from sight is a good idea.
what’s a desktop icon?
Remember a few years ago when someone’s cell phone rang at work or in a restaurant and everyone turned around, stared and instantly hated the phone’s owner? Now, that doesn’t bother you at all, does it?
Nope, still irks the hell out of me.
Remember a few years ago when someone’s cell phone rang at work or in a restaurant and everyone turned around, stared and instantly hated the phone’s owner? Now, that doesn’t bother you at all, does it?
Nope, still irks the hell out of me.
Me too. Those things have an off switch for a reason.
“That’s great when you want them to stand out, when you want to be a target in risky neighborhoods…”
I will remember that the next time I find myself in a neighborhood controlled by the iRiver Gang, or the Creative Crew.
Remember a few years ago when someone’s cell phone rang at work or in a restaurant and everyone turned around, stared and instantly hated the phone’s owner? Now, that doesn’t bother you at all, does it?
Just mimic what they’re saying into their phone really loud. Works great, you get a good laugh and it makes them leave your earspace.
Now it is time to sell my iPod. I don’t want to be know as anything, much less an ‘iPeople’ person. Next they’ll have us drinking Coolaid in our Nike shoes waiting for that UFO to stop and pick us up. Poke me with a fork, I’m done.
YUCK!
Note, when I interact with someone, I always turn down my music, but this is what happens with the plugs.
Both ear plugs stay in if: the person I’m talking to is not very important, or its just a conversation with someone I know, or it is knowingly going to be a short conversation. Such as my boss sticking his head in my office to ask if everything is OK, I’m the IT Manager, at which point I say, “Yep”, and he moves along. He would move along weither I had the plugs in or not. Sort, sweet, no need to remove them.
One ear plug gets removed. Usually when I need to hear someone, someone like a teacher, or its a stranger that is talking to me for a good amount of time. I usually do this when I get to the cash register at the local deli shop that I get my bagel at in the morning. Its a short period of time that I need to hear how much I owe, and I don’t want to offend the person, but don’t want to stop listening, by leaving both ear peices in.
Ear pieces come out. When I’m having a conversation with a client, friend or someone important to me. Like a teacher, I would take my ear pieces out if I was to have a good 30 second chat, one if it was a short chat where the teacher would tell me whats due. And if that short chat turned into a long, I would then remove both. Clients that I walk around town to check up on, POS systems, even if it is a short chat, I always remove my plugs so that they feel they have my full attention.
I feel that manners have something to do with how many plugs stay in the ear. She might not have very good manners so that is why she left both of them in, and if she was playing music, then I would say she doesn’t have any.
SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!
This dude is one of the reasons I keep my earbuds in… So I don’t have to listen to stupidity…
“iPeople”? Stupid! never heard the term before, and never want to hear it again.
“Do people want to be alone? Should we talk to them” If your a hot chick, yes, talk to me… If your an idiot, like this writer… keep moving, my earbuds are staying in.
Ringing telephones were, are, and will always be annoying.
“They were weird already. Once they built them in a little white case they could carry around and wear like jewelry, people say, ‘I have to have them.’ That’s the social part of them. They are in the network.'”
GOD!!! SHUT UP!!!! I have and wear an iPod because Apple is the only company that does technology right and I love music and can cram my whole music library into an iPod and carry and listen to it wherever I go… That’s it, end of story, no more analysis necessary.
Ugh!!!!
Even tho his student left the ear buds in that does not necessarily mean she was listening to anything. My son does that sometimes. He just turns off the music and listens and talks for a while then turns the music back on when the conversation is over. It does kinda bug me tho so I usually make him take them out.
That’s what happens in news articles: the reporter takes down what she or he thinks works best for the article. For what it’s worth, it still bugs me when phones ring in restaurants and pretty much everywhere else.
And Sean, don’t take it so personally. I wasn’t talking about you. I actually told the reporter that I wasn’t talking about you. Just turn up the volume and try to chill.
We just got back from a not so romantic weekend away at a mountain cabin. We relaxed reading books as well as snowshoeing all the while my husband was hooked up to his ipod. Why did I feel so alone?
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