My dear husband bought me an iPod (nano).
I looked at it, all white and shiny, lying still in its small perfect box. It seemed to me that this small, maybe too small, device will have great power over me. And so it did.
The iPod is an amazing device, it’s tiny, plays hundreds of songs, and has a great sound not to mention an intuitive interface. But above all these elementary qualities, it pumps information directly to my brain without any agent to buffer between them. Unlike its big brother “theWalkman” it’s tinny and almost unnoticed and there’s no need to mess around with it for example: change sides, or change batteries. Thus it has a great ability to influence me. I want to talk about a couple of ways in which that influence comes into play and its consequences.
The first one is also the obvious one and it is the disconnection. The iPod helps us to actively disconnect from the world. The reasons for disconnection are many and different from one person to another, but I think they are all pretty similar in essence: too much information, too much pressure and too much self-hatred. Or as RadioHead said it better-
So we do want and need to disconnect, especially in the mornings. I called mornings in the Subway or any other public commuting transportation- “the glossy eyes show”. A bunch of people stuffed into small mobile spaces, nobody talks, and everybody has this strange look in their eyes as if they are being operated by some machine that is stuck in their brain and somebody forgot to turn it on. Since everybody is nasty and grumpy in the mornings, but needs to be optimistic and enthusiastic the moment they walk into the office, it makes perfect sense to repress those feelings in the short time you have on the train. Some people read books or newspapers while others listen to music or combine the two. Listening to music is the best way to disconnect without a doubt. Since reading allows you to hear the surrounding background noise, it needs your attention and connection. Listening, on the other hand, asks for nothing, you can look at other people without really seeing something, you can empty your head completely from thoughts and the best part is that nobody will try to talk to you since they assume you cannot hear. So here you go, disconnecting.
Now let me pull you out of this dark alienated picture, with the second one. The iPod has the role of playing the soundtrack of our lives. With the iPod our surroundings change rapidly according to the track that is been played. Personally, most of the time I’m saving the world, in the Matrix style: jumping on the ceilings, from high-rise rooftops to the sliders of a chopper or breaking a well protected governmental office building.
When the right track is played I can do almost anything, with the right track I can ride a chopper against the direction of the traffic, while with a different track, somebody is watching me and I am on a daring international spy mission. On the third, I’m seconds from being discovered as the next top model of the universe. By the fourth I’m the lonely hero that’s having all his life flash before his eyes.
My life is not as dramatic as I used to think life should be, (or maybe it is and I’m too busy in chasing robotic agents that I can’t see it) so my iPod helps me to add extra excitement. I think it’s a novel role, and it’s much cheaper then LSD pills.
One last thing, it seems iPod has replaced cigarettes. A couple of years ago, when I needed to wait for someone or kill some time, I always wished I’d never come early or just wanted a smoke. People who smoke can never look bored or as if they are doing nothing. Today I have my iPod, I can listen to my music with glossy eyes, and without the possibility of thinking that someone else thinks I am doing nothing. If I really want to look preoccupied, I can always scroll my music list up and down, up and down. And that’s hard work!
Next time you see me walking down the street smiling with my ear buds stuck inside my ears, you can be sure, I just killed agent smith.
