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He's got his whole music collection in his hand! But has he ever had a conversation on the T? CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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iPod iSolation
BY LEN SOUSA
America's latest It girl, the Apple iPod, has sold a staggering 42 million units since its inception in late 2001-a number that roughly translates to 100 players sold every minute. It's a sales figure that has helped a company once threatened by Microsoft's near-monopoly gain some much needed ground in the war of PC versus Mac. Essentially a scaled-down hard drive with the capacity to store large numbers of files, the pill-box-sized digital player has the kind of multi-tasking ability the 21st century craves. It's a computer, it's a stereo, it's a clock, it's an organizer - ladies and gentlemen, it's all in one. So what's the problem?
In the years following its release, a disarming side effect of the iPod infatuation has spread through every major city in America. Walk through one on any given day, and it's easy enough to spot. Men and women, young and old, are roaming the streets with tiny white buds plunged into their ears listening to music and ignoring nearly everyone and everything around them. One could literally be surrounded by hundreds of people walking by and never feel more alone.
Examining the player on a Freudian level may help answer why. The dictionary defines a "pod" as a school of marine animals. It also defines it as a casing for either plant or machine. A best guess would say that Apple means the latter when referring to their digital player. So the iPod literally means, "self self-containment." And, as Sigmund Freud might note, the fact that the "i" is lower case and the "Pod" is emphasized would mean the i's ego is being surpassed by the Pod's superego. Thus claiming it's more important to be pod than person.
Whether or not Apple advocates this is pretty clear - they don't. The "i" prefix comes from Apple products with a similar name, such as the iMac, iSight, or iChat; and allegedly, the letter stands for the word Internet. Nevertheless, this Freudian wordplay illustrates a point. There's an ostracism iPod use supports that even early humans would have avoided. A dozen eons ago, primitive humans stalked through their cultural centers listening to the sounds of their peers as they worked out an early language. It was a part of human existence. If they didn't like something being said, there was always the opportunity to get into a good clubbing match over it or discuss it and further develop social interaction. But with the invention of a portable device that isolates users so well, people seem destined for some cultural damage. America's mainstream has decided that "podding" is hip, the new trend every kid on the block needs to jump on. If one isn't an iPodder, he or she risks missing out on trademarks fast becoming new words, like podcast, iTunes, and even the disagreeable vingle. What was once a novelty has become a way of life.
In the mid-1950s, transistor radios were the latest technological craze for audiophiles. Across the country, people could be seen with one hand to an ear, blasting the tinny sounds of a local radio station. Then in the 1980s Sony released the first of their Walkman series - allowing users to bring their favorite albums with them anywhere and avoid the need to rely on radio play. Now the iPod has entered the fold and become this generation's portable music gadget of choice. Unlike its predecessors, the iPod's ability to store a cache of more than 10,000 songs has given users something they've never dealt with before - the temptation to stay podded away indefinitely. At least with past music players, favorite songs stop playing and there was a limit to how many albums could be carried. But in the iPod age, given the ease of MP3 proliferation, even someone with the shortest attention span can move on to new songs without repeating one for hours.
Yet transistor radios, for all their popularity half a century ago, have essentially gone the way of the dodo, as did Sony's Walkman cassette player. Is the iPod destined for the same fate? Like any novel device, it may be fun for a while, but its flaws eventually show through. Three years ago, users complained that the battery life of most players was an unimpressive 18 months. Apple eventually fixed the problem by issuing iPods with better battery usage and offered an affordable battery replacement policy. More recently, a Wall Street Journal article reported on an increase in teenage hearing loss possibly related to playing MP3 players too loudly. The problem is not only the level of sound but the duration of exposure as well. Certainly an issue such as hearing loss is likely to make listeners second-guess how and when they use their players.
But what of the iPod's less obvious flaws? Its engrossing nature may be its greatest failure. The ability to coax users into entering their own world and ignoring the one they're physically in is more troubling than it first appears. Once upon a time, people had conversations on the bus and in subways - some tedious and others unexpectedly worthwhile - but now, one is hard-pressed to find anyone who isn't caught in their world of music. Is it necessary to stay plugged in for every walk to and from home one makes? Should the instant reaction to every noisy or dull experience be to slip on a pair of ear pacifiers?
Whereas a Luddite might curse the iPod and call for its annihilation, the real solution lies with the people who use them. It's true that everyone needs to get away at times, avoid the noisy rush of the city, or just tune out distractions, but how often should men and women only roam their city in the private realm of their ears? Insisting they should never suffer even a modicum of boredom or any displeasing din. What will this iSolation spell in the years to come? After all, there's a whole world out there waiting to be heard. And in the classic words of Ferris Bueller, "If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
Len Sousa listens to nothing but hours and hours of white noise on his iPod, hoping to drown out the tiny whispers in his head. If you see him on the street, do not approach him for directions or the time. He's busy letting life pass him by. E-mail him at lennysousa@yahoo.com.
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