“We have become a headphone generation, preferring to listen to our music in silence than utter a single word of acknowledgement to a stranger, maybe even a friend. Hellos and goodbyes have been replaced by head nods and fist bumps. Emotions are trapped in their emotional cages, and a person’s voice no longer needs to be heard as long as his cell phone shows five bars of connection.” This quote, taken from University Wire’s article “Technology and Social Isolation”, sums up the current paradigm haunting millions of Americans. In a world starved of human interaction, people have found yet another way to isolate themselves: headphones. Although headphone use can make listening to music and making phone calls more convenient, portable audio technology, such as headphones, earbuds, and Bluetooth headsets can inhibit social interaction by blocking in-person communication between people.
Pioneered by Nathaniel Baldwin, an early 1900s tinkerer, the first headphones were created to help amplify his pastor’s sermons, as he could not hear from the back of the crowd. Almost immediately, in 1910, the navy adopted the idea of headphones, using them in World War I and World War II to communicate during noisy battles. However, the idea of having a portable personalized sound system was not introduced to the general public until the 1960s, and wasn’t made popular until the invention of the Walkman in 1979 (Thompson). The popularity of this new commodity soared almost instantly, but critics of the auditory device were already predicting a destruction of societal values. Nevertheless, headphones became a ubiquitous sight. Although the technology has changed over the past 40 years to include earbuds, headsets, and Bluetooth, the ubiquity of audio devices is unmatched. Global headphone sales rose to $8.4 billion in 2013, and has continued to grow (Berstein). Ideally, since headphones are massively popular, they should be something that listeners everywhere can bond over. So why do they tear people apart rather than bring them together?
Headphone supporters often point to studies such as the one done in a Vermont elementary school in 2011 as proof that, far from isolating people, headphones can be used to build relationships. In this study, which observes several groups of children at different age levels, the researchers conclude that the use of earbuds to share music brought the children together, helping them to maintain friendships and establish a social order. As the researchers watched, kids gathered around each other to share earbuds, typically keeping an earbud plugged into one ear while listening to each other speak and engaging in conversation. In this way, they solidified their friendship (Bickford). While it is true that among children and adolescents, shared listening via earbuds on the playground or during long trips fostered friendship, this mentality is sadly lost by the time a child reaches college. In fact, it is not unusual for this mentality to be completely reversed, as shown by the fact that “73% [of adults] admitted to having slid a pair of headphones on to avoid interaction with other people” (Petrusich). Comedian and actress Julie Klausner calls headphones her “front line of urban social defense”, to keep her from having to “strike up a conversation” in socially intimidating situations (Bernstein).
Headphone supporters also argue that headsets are not socially isolating because they can be used to connect with friends, family, and coworkers in a convenient, hands-free way. For some commuters, it seems to be a more socially acceptable choice to pull out Bluetooth earbuds and talk about their jobs than it would be to pull out a phone. What matters in this argument is not who the individual is connecting with, but the fact that the user is connecting with someone. However, while making business deals or other calls in public, the user has in effect separated himself from everyone else, insinuating that their presence is not worth his attention. Further complicating the issue, Bluetooth headsets are often small and can be easily overlooked or hidden by the user’s hair. “Half the time people think you’re talking to them when you’re really not,” says William Robbins, a Florida doctor who is accustomed to making phone calls on his Bluetooth earpiece (Young). This creates confusing and awkward encounters for the user, and builds up an invisible barrier between him and his fellow travelers, putting him in a place of isolation.
Not only do headphones isolate people by creating an unseen barricade around them, attempts to converse with others, especially retail and food service workers, while wearing headphones can be seen as rude and devaluing. Almost anyone who has worked with food service can surely remember customers who refused to remove their earpieces while speaking to their server, creating confusion and bitterness. Liz Wyse, an etiquette instructor and former fast food worker laments, “It is very belittling to a shop assistant if you can’t be bothered to take your headphones out. And half-in, half-out is compromised- it looks like you are going to put them back on any moment” (Castella). This sometimes-unintentional disregard for the humanity of the employee, which happens much too often, replaces what might have been a meaningful connection with apathy.
However, the direst way in which headphones cause isolation is by taking away opportunities for relationships to be built between individuals. In 1980, at the beginnings of the Walkman craze, a newspaper article was written about a man who sold his Walkman to salvage his marriage, as his wife claimed he was constantly putting on headphones and tuning her out (Petrusich). Psychologist and housewife Kimberly Sena Moore, finds that she often has the same problem; she will miss out on entire conversations with her kids because she chooses to listen to podcasts on a pair of headphones while fixing dinner (Moore). This is not an isolated problem, however, as a study done by Sol Republic reveals that most adults wear audio devices for over four hours every day (Petrusich). College students pop in earbuds on the walk from class to class, and workers listen during their commute. Yet there is no connection with the hundreds of people around them. Jeremy Davis, a student at Carleton university, expresses his frustration with being surrounded by people, but unable to get their attention because their ears were plugged with devices, “Wearing [headphones] in any kind of social situation is kind of stand-offish. It’s saying that my music is more important than whatever you have to say” (Hawkins). When a person is wearing headphones, it is generally assumed that they do not want to talk, and thus meaningful conversations are never started.
While there is nothing innately wrong with enjoying music or making phone calls via wireless headsets, headphone users will miss valuable connections and conversations while they are “plugged in” elsewhere. In addition, users create an unspoken barrier between themselves when they use headphones in the presence of others, and often come off as rude or callous. However, because completely abandoning audio devices is not a viable solution to this problem, users must be intentional about shutting off their devices at certain times to fully bond with others. Perhaps, instead of connecting to Bluetooth, commuters can connect with the person sitting beside them. Perhaps consumers can wait to take that phone call until after the cashier has rung them up. Generation Z should be known as the silent generation, not because they are too consumed by their music to speak to others, but because they take time to truly listen to people’s stories.
Soli Deo Gloria 