In today’s modern world, the era of Apple products are at it’s ultimate climax with one of their highest grossing sales being notorious for blocking out unwanted conversations instead of the original intended purpose of listening to music. What are they, you ask? It’s none other than AirPods: a modern social mute button.
To the people reading this article who currently own or have used a pair of AirPods as their mainstream source of listening to sound: have you ever walked around with them in your ears when nothing was playing? Have you ever put in airpods and turned on music to avoid someone? How about something because you didn’t want to engage and or you felt uncomfortable in the given situation?
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The question is rhetorical. The answer is. and will always be, yes.
That, in all of it’s sugar coating, is our truth in 2019. We have succumbed to avoiding communication with one another and our easy access to devices such as AirPods create a wall between conversing with those who are different to us. It makes it easy to avoid those we don’t want to talk to, avoiding the conversations around us, and, in reality, create a bubble of our own quiet protection. In our society we are so used to the idea that technology is an amazing source of information and sharing and communication. However, what we ignore is that after this tremendous growth in the cellular world, there is a decline in our abilities to socialize with those around us in the physical atmosphere. AirPods are a headlining contributor to such issues. Their blockage of sound to those around us cause a disconnect in our understanding of proper communication.
If we didn’t have these headphones in our ears at all, would our ability to reach out and talk to the ones around us run smoother? Or will their absence push us to communicate in order to occupy our time? Our truth is what we know, and what we know is simple: we cannot live without these small, white plugs. These, as well as technology as a whole, are our society’s crutch.
So the next time you see someone when you’re walking back to your dorm that you don’t want to go out of your way to simply wave hello and keep walking, just take out your social remote, put it in your ears, and press mute. IMG Source