It was a busy day on Sproul, with the usual torrential flood of students making their way through Sather Gate to various places, and tablers submitting flyers into their faces. A few of the Pulse editors sat down for about two hours on an average Monday to observe patterns of headphone behavior.
Is it a walking fortress? Or can it be an opportunity for a conversation?
Part of this exercise was to observe the scene and make note of the different music-listening apparatuses we were seeing. We saw a good mix of pods and headphones, cabled and bluetooth. Another aspect was to see how many people would actually stop to answer questions. We understand the grind, and don’t expect everyone to stop and talk – but we were quite enthused with the few interactions we had.
A few of us stood with a sign that said “What R U Listening To?”
Sifting through the crowd of people, we got an array of reactions. Some people shrugged off the sign, some people were more inclined to engage. So, here’s a list of responses we got in quick passing:
“Salsa”
Chasing Mirrors
“An advertisement”
“Casual” - Chappel Roan (This person had bedazzled wired earbuds).
“Precious Things” - Tori Amos
“Nothing!”
(Some people mouthed the words “I’m on the phone.”)
Ino Casablanca (French)
“Instrumental Turkish music”
“Facetime!”
“I’m scrolling TikTok!” (This person did stop and talk to us, and told us that they had been listening to Cosmic Princess.)
Taylor Swift (She said it was “Sad-girl music” but she “likes it.”)
“The Live 8 Concert” - Queen
“MAI” - Milo J
“Blow Me” - fakemink (This person’s wired headphones were yarn-wrapped).
“Oceans” - Beneath the Surface
A classmate who didn’t answer (maybe an argument for the fortress).
“Cannock Chase” - Labi Siffre
There was quite the diversity of playlists. We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of people who took the time to show us what they were listening to!
Some people had a bit more time to engage, and approached us. For those who came to the table, we set up an interactive activity that required collaborative spontaneity.
We had participants write a single word to add to the sentence. This is what we came up with:
“The cat drags irate beans on top of the Campanile”
“The blood gathering was ambiguous and enjoyable despite.”
We got the chance to talk to a few students, Miriam, Rohan, Nathan and June. We asked questions like “How often do you walk with headphones?” Miriam wears them about a third of the day. Rohan wears them constantly, listening to music for nearly 8 hours per day. Nathan wears them when he’s feeling anti-social. June wasn’t wearing headphones, but will wear them occasionally on mundane days.
We then asked the same students “Why do you wear headphones when you walk?” June wears headphones when she wants to control the environment. Rohan wears them to think about things. Miriam wears them to get the day grooving. Though Nathan did say he wears them to be antisocial, but he did mention that he would be inclined to speak to someone if they make eye contact.
And what they were listening to:
Miriam: “Locked Up” - Akon
Rohan: “055” - Westside Gunn
Nathan: “Call it Easy” - Racing Mount Pleasant
June: The sounds of a busy Sproul Plaza.
People use headphones for a slew of reasons. The number of people who interacted with us was greatly surprising. While we can use our headphones as a bubble to protect our attention, it’s important to remember to connect with the outside world from time to time. We don’t have to get into the larger social implications of blocking ourselves off to the world, but we should at least consider them. Our five senses are our only source for experiencing the world. How can we utilize them all to get the most out of our time here? That’s for you to decide.