On the bus, on the street, and especially on campus, headphones can help students get through their day.
But are headphones endangering Carleton students and causing them to become more anti-social, or are they helpful gadgets for people that are on-the-go?
Whether or not headphones are anti-social is a deafening dichotomy that experts say is getting harder to ignore.
Headphones: A history
Carleton PhD candidate Tom Everett, whose research focuses on the relationship between headphones and social morality, says the history of headphones began with the popularization of radio.
He says at one time there was no amplification for the radio, so two telephones were hooked up to a steel headband to create the “head telephone” later referred to as headphones.
These headphones allowed people to be able to adjust and focus in on the sound of the radio.
“At that point headphones really weren’t a problem, they were a solution, because people wanted radio to do all these wonderful things like connect people, and we needed headphones,” he says.
It wasn’t until the 1920s, when speakers became available, that people began to question whether headphones were anti-social or not, according to Everett.
“It’s been crazy ever since,” he says.
In the 1960s, headphones became popular for home listening. This is because television and high-quality sound had made the home a loud space that was difficult to coexist in, Everett said.
“Headphones were seen again as this wonderful social tool, that allows people to live peacefully in the same space,” he says.
Everett says the Walkman was introduced in the 1980s because of how noisy public spaces were becoming with the popularity of boomboxes.
In this case, headphones were adopted by people in their mid-30s to combat the noisiness of younger people’s public music, but they were quickly latched on to by youth.
“And we’ve been stuck in this rut ever since. Whether it’s good for society or bad,” Everett says.
Splitting ear buds
The debate is split into two camps.
On one side, there are advocates who say headphones lead to better education and claim not all users are in danger when listening through headphones.
On the other side are the nay-sayers, claiming headphones foster anti-social behaviour and reduce awareness about your surroundings that can be downright dangerous.
Everett says it’s important to look at context when discussing headphones.
“Before people judge, they need to ask what’s really making them feel uncomfortable. I think a lot of the problems around headphones come from a lack of patience,” he says.
Everett says the problem lies in headphone design being “terrible,” but he hopes that new innovations will fix that.
“I think once people get more options, they’ll begin to think about whether the flak headphone users get is fair, and better headphone design, better app design, will empower users to make better choices,” he said.
A pair of bone-conduction headphones, for example, sits in front of the ears and transfers sound through the skull bones. Because of this they don’t block out the sounds from the user’s environment, and they can be used by the hearing impaired.
While Everett fully supports newer headphone models that make listening safer and more social, he also said these models are currently very expensive, which forces users to choose between their health and their wallet.
Sound isolation and social frustration
Amy Clements-Cortes, a music therapist and an assistant professor in the music department at the University of Toronto, says in addition to health concerns, headphones may compromise people’s ability to socialize and communicate.
“It’s the same argument that can be made with social media and technology. We don’t know how to communicate with each other because now, instead of talking to the person beside us, we text them,” she says.
Clements-Cortes says headphones are a great tool for taking your workout on the go, and for commuting, but they also have the power to isolate people, and to prevent people from interacting with the world around them.
She says increased dependability on headphones in youth may even discourage from the natural curiosity that draws children to interact with each other.
As a music therapist in a Toronto hospital, Clements-Cortes also says that putting headphones on a patient could trigger unpleasant memories for them. She strongly encouraged public music, such as group listening or live music, as a means to enjoy music.
“I think there are a lot of therapeutic benefits if music is chosen and used consciously,” she says. “But I do think also that people could use headphones as a crutch in socially anxious situations, the same way that I think people use their cellphones as a crutch.”
Jeremy Davis, a third-year English student at Carleton, says headphones are fine when alone, but aren’t acceptable in social situations, and could signify a socially anxious person.
Like Everett, Davis says he’s interested in new technological developments that might help him to be more aware when biking.
“It is irritating when you ring your bell and the guy walking, blaring music can’t tell,” he says. “Wearing them in any kind of social situation is kind of stand-offish. It’s saying that my music is more important than whatever you have to say.”
Third-year journalism student Keith Hickey says he uses headphones mostly for commuting or anytime he’s on his own, where he says listening to music becomes a more personal experience.
“I find you get more invested into what you’re listening to,” he says.
Hickey says headphones aren’t unlike other things that could cause someone to be isolated, and are only promoted that way through people’s choices.
“I think they’re a good thing that some people could use wrong,” he says. “I don’t think they’re causing isolation. They’re just a really good way to listen to music.”
He also says they are an important study tool for him in situations where he prefers the isolation from background noise, giving him a more relaxing study environment.
For the most part, Everett agrees with Hickey’s notion that headphone users are not necessarily trying to say they aren’t interested in talking to the people around them. He noted people using headphones receive this kind of criticism mostly because they are a visual sign of not-listening.
“The real question here is, ‘How do we deal with people when they can’t hear us?’ And, ‘How do we position ourselves amongst other people when we can’t necessarily hear them?’” he said.
Everett said resolving the headphone issue “is going to require a lot of work on both sides, users and non-users, to figure out how to respect each other and understand each other.”
