IPOD v. GHETTO BLASTER

The other day I was sitting in my car trying to get in a last minute read before class. All of the sudden, I heard this irritating sound that distracted me from my intense devotion to the understanding of account. (btw law students who were philosophy/English majors were not meant to study accounting principles; hence my dire need for concentration) Pulled from the T-chart and journal entries, I began wondering what on earth was wafting through the air like the falling leaves. Soon I realized it was rhythmic distractions of someone’s radio blaring through the streets. My first reaction was “um, where’s your ipod? I don’t want to hear your music.”

Fifty years ago there was no such thing as a personal music device. The JUKE BOX and the PHONGRAPH blasted music waves through the air. People shared their space with the same tunes and experienced the music together.

Even twenty years ago the idea of personal entertainment was just being realized. A person would have only had a walkman that could carry a single album. Twenty years ago the GHETTO BLASTER was the hit. People would gather around a single source of music and would dance in the streets (in theory and in Hollywood anyway).

Now the world is different. We can all have our own personal soundtracks to our life. As we glide through our days, arrangements by U2, Radiohead, Cold Play, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan accent our experiences. And if suddenly bad things happen the best solution is to hit the “Blue” playlist.

I’m a technophile from way back. I love these gadgets, but when I was suddenly offended by this music the other day it made me wonder how technology sometimes allows us to become seclude into our own pods. This phenomena seems to pervade much of our personal entertainment: home entertainment centers, personal computing, game consoles, stereos, ipods. Sometimes I have to balance my fascination (my wife would say obsession) with technology with my love and devotion to community.

I don't really have any great conclusions to draw. I still want an ipod (for christmas if anyone wants to send me one). I don't want to be offended when I hear someone else's music. In fact, I may want to share in that moment, which means that i have to roll down my window and listen even when that means losing focus on my ever important task at hand.