How Headphones Are Changing Our World

If you are reading this on a computer, there is an excellent chance that you are wearing, or within arm's reach of, a pair of headphones or earbuds. Take a second to think... What do those headphones mean to me? Is it a sense of privacy? Some see headphones as a productivity tool. Others might view headphones as an escape. Regardless of how you view them now, they have made an impact on how we listen to music. Music has historically been quite a social art form. It bands groups of people together. A musical style can unify a country or city. Music is used to share stories and emotions with others. It has been a staple in human gatherings for thousands of years. Yet when playing music through headphones, it becomes a very private experience. Headphones put you in a bubble. They whisk you off to a realm of whatever you've loaded into your i-pod. Regardless of where you physically are, you can still change your environment with 2 earbuds, and a music player. Those two wires dangling from your ears build an invisible box around you. You can shape the space however you want. It's yours, and you are in control. Is corporate running around the office loosing their minds on this quarter's numbers? All you need is 2 earbuds and your computer to teleport off to the soothing land of Frank Sinatra. Those same earbuds are a serious social cue. Approaching a stranger on the street to ask for directions can already be a daunting task for some. Now say that stranger had headphones on. Asking them for directions now includes popping their precious little personal bubble of music. You're probably going to wander another 2 blocks in search of someone with unobstructed ears. With more and more people walking around with earbuds jammed deep in their ear canals, the streets become ironically quieter. Physically they are here, but their minds are elsewhere. People flock to big cities to feel a part of something big. The hustle bustle of millions of people is energizing. We have always found ourselves safer in numbers, yet the thought of constant human interaction can be overwhelming. Headphones help with that. They are the new social cue of saying "I'm here, but not present".   To visit a modern office place is to walk into a room with a dozen songs playing simultaneously but to hear none of them. Up to half of younger workers listen to music on their headphones, and the vast majority thinks it makes us better at our jobs. In survey after survey, we report with confidence that music makes us happier, better at concentrating, and more productive. Science says we're full of it. Listening to music hurts our ability to recall other stimuli, and any pop song -- loud or soft -- reduces overall performance for both extraverts and introverts. A Taiwanese study linked music with lyrics to lower scores on concentration tests for college students, and other research have shown music with words scrambles our brains' verbal-processing skills. [...]

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