The excerpts from Sounding Out the City
by Michael Bull brings up many interesting ideas about the barriers
and connections created by the use of personal stereos. The article
created some strong realizations of truth for me on the nature of
musical devices and how they are used in public situations.
The reading on personal stereo use
struck me as describing a circular problem that shutting oneself off
from their surroundings both creates and prevents. Many of the
people interviewed in this article describe themselves as shutting
themselves off to the world using their personal devices, such as
walk mans, and thus creating their own world. These devices
discourage the interaction of others by separating the user into
their own mindset and by helping to block out the unwanted elements
of their surroundings. However, many of the interviewed device users
also say that their device helps them to feel less lonely when they
are, in fact, participating in activities alone. One user described
going on her bike rides just “me and Scott Walker” referring to
the singer on her cassette tapes. It's an interesting point that
therefore, the stereo devices that are separating these people from
others by creating a barrier are also creating a false sense of
company for them when they have to face the world outside their
houses alone. As someone who suffers from social anxiety, I have used
an ipod many times to help put myself at ease when surrounded by
strangers but it was not until reading this article that the idea of
this is a very common and shared experience. While I am more likely
to fumble with my phone to create a sense of being accompanied, I can
also recognize the need to create a sense of companionship through
technology when I am thrust out into an unfamiliar situation.
The section of the article about gaze
was especially thought provoking as it described many people who,
while using a personal stereo device, feel free to let their gaze
wander in a way that they feel is less intrusive than if they were
not walled off by their music. The thought that blocking off one
sense to allow the more thorough use of another is not one that is
altogether surprising. However, the article seems to describe a
zoned out gaze that is not really connecting with what they see so
much as the person letting their mind connect to what they were
listening to.
As a photographer I have gone out
shooting many times by myself with nothing but my camera and an ipod.
I find that the use of familiar music helps me block out the
distraction of new sounds in an unfamiliar surrounding so as to focus
on only what I am seeing photographically. Maybe I am in danger of
projecting the mood of what I am listening to into what I am
photographing but that is an idea that I had not considered until
reading this article.
Altogether this article presented me
with ideas that I feel are deeply connected to myself and my own
actions in a way that I had not considered before. While the
technology focused on may be out of date now, the occurrence of these
habits have grown far more widespread and are very present in
everyone's interactions in the world and play a very prevalent part
in our society.
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