Perils of iPodding

As a spin-off of Si Johnston’s post on The Perils of Blogging, I thought that I would talk a little bit about the perils of ipodding. Let me start off by saying that i don’t think that ipod’s are bad. I own one and use it frequently; But I would like to talk about a danger that we fellow ipodders can be caught in if we are not aware of it. Please feel free to add to the peril that I suggest with anything that you have experienced or feel would be relevant to this conversation.

I work in downtown Santa Barbara, and I frequently walk the city streets of the downtown area. There are many people who also walk the streets of downtown, and also many who basically reside on these same streets. As I walk from my office to grab a bite of food, or to meet up with a friend, or check out the newest releases at Morninglory Music, I push the white headphones of my ipod into my ear, scroll to find a good album, press play, and turn the volume up, all the while shutting out the conversation and happenings of the world around me. You see, with these little white earpieces inside my ears, I easily become deaf to the Vietnam Vet in a wheelchair who shakes his cup of change at me as he mutters a sad story I can ignore. I can pretend that I don’t notice the man walking next to me, with whom I could probably have a meaningfull conversation with. I can become numb to the world around me.

Today we live in the world of the ipod where people don’t have to have conversation and have an excuse not to help their fellow man. If everyone had an ipod and used it as they walked their city streets, more and more people would begin to feel left out, unloved, and uncared for.