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iPods are everywhere nowadays. When I say everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE. On the Metro, in movie theater ticket lines, men's rooms, airports, cars, and the most prevelent place, the streets of DC. Even my dad, who is pretty tech savvy I grant you, owns one now. It seems one in every three people is wearing those little white headphones whereever they go.

(I should say, before I get too far into this rant, that I do own an iPod and I find it very useful.. in certain situations. My long drive to Michigan. It's nice with the iTrip attached. I DO use the iTrip everyday, in my car, and love it. I have used it on the Metro as well. I have no problem with iPod usage during mass transit commutes. I've been there... and they are nice to have.)

Now, these little white headphones also represent the modern "Do Not Disturb" sign that anyone can hang on their private door by throwing them in. They are the "cool" anti-social gadget of the this and future generations. How many times have you gotten into an elevator and had the person to your right rocking out Metallica (when rock music is heard second-hand, doesn't it always sound like Metallica)? As if the silence in the elevator was too much for this person to take. It might make them go crazy. They say silence can do that to a person. How hard is it, for the sake of the others in the elevator with you, to kindly remove your headphones and, heaven forbid, leave your ears exposed? Or maybe even TALK with another person. Human contact isn't all bad is it?

John Flinn wrote an interesting article for the San Francisco Gate the other day that, I'm sure, is more elegantly written than this raving tirade.

But by routinely switching on our iPods and dialing up our favorite tunes, we're cocooning ourselves in the old and familiar. Whether we're conscious of it or not, we're erecting a defensive barrier against the new and alien, and retreating into our own personal worlds. That's not necessarily a bad thing when we're riding Muni home from work. But when we've flown 8,000 miles to reach a distant and exotic land, it gets in the way of what we came for.

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