iPod iSolation, or why Steve Jobs became so successful

[Falcon]

I am tired of those cliché portable music devices and their little earbud minions. Steve Jobs' iPod was such a monumental success because it was every individualistic, anti-social American's ultimate dream gadget. Jobs' genius lies in his ability to figure out what ordinary mainstream Americans REALLY want. And so came the iPod.

In Mexico, most people just blast all that music off their cell phones and boomboxes, out loud. The only people I saw using those iThingies were the "pochos" (Americanized Mexicans) and "fresas" ( preppy upper-class Mexican girls http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fresa ).

Here's a huge pile of articles about "iPod iSolation."


News Articles

iPod isolation
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/b ... ods02.html

iPod era of personal media choices may be turning us into an iSolation nation
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... e0912.html

The isolation of the iPod people
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/s ... ode=401340

Ipod - Isolation or Independance? (slideshow)


iPod iSolation
http://www.kansan.com/news/2008/nov/06/ipod_isolation/

iPods banned in Sydney school for breeding "social isolation" (Good for you Aussies!)
http://www.engadget.com/2005/03/22/ipod ... isolation/

Your View: Exercising Isolation
http://samfordcrimson.com/2011/your-vie ... isolation/

Hey IPod, Stop Causing Social Isolation!!
http://scepticlife.blogspot.com/2009/02 ... ation.html



Individuality or Social Isolation? The Age of Ipod
http://massmedia116.blogspot.com/2009/0 ... n-age.html





This article on the Seattle Freeze ( http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacifi ... cover.html ) says:

Huh? What did you say? At University Zoka coffee shop near the U. Village, socializing means sharing a table with friends but drowning them out with your own personal soundtrack. From left, University of Washington student Nick Hara plugs into his iPod, Perla Josué downloads music on her PowerBook and Fahm Saechao plays "R&B slow jams" on a portable CD player.

Even if that one lady who's looking around tried to strike up a conversation with the guy next to her, she'd have a hard time getting his attention. He's corked off the rest of the world with his iPod. Those telltale white earbuds announce: I've got 10,000 songs to render you mute.

"A lot of what people call socializing is really just public isolation," O'Brien says.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

You are onto something here. I have been noticing this ever since I arrived back in the States in August. Men and especially women walk around engrossed in their own little cyber world.

I once saw two people having dinner at a restaurant and they both were playing with their iPhones and ignoring each other for several minutes at a time.

Also, today I was at the gym and everyone had ear buds in their ears and were ignoring each other's exisitance like I had never seen.

The US is truly a sick place where everyone is a "pod" in and of herself. By golly, it is an imposition to even say hello to someone or acknowledge their existence in some way.

Five more years and I'm OUT of here for good!

[Grunt]

When 75% of the people around you at any time are blithering idiots, why not try to gain some sanity by tuning them out? If I am forced to sit on a bus or park my ass in some waiting room for 30 minutes, you damn well know I am bringing my laptop with me.

Case in point; this afternoon I went into a local restaurant to pick up lunch for my wife and I. As I was waiting, one of the people in the place struck up a conversation about the Iraq war. Nice enough guy, in his early 50's, rabid Republican. We spoke about contract work in Afghanistan fro a bit, and when my food was done and I went to leave, he joked that the owners of the restaurant were "Communist Democrats".

In reality, they were ethnic Greeks and hard working business owners. They were contributing to the tax base and providing employment to the locals. They surely were not "Communists", and should not be openly called such, even as a joke. I respect others rights to their opinions, but when most people tend to shove their half-baked perspectives down your throat, you are better off not even talking to anyone.

Long live the iPod.

[S_Parc]

Folks, the i-Pod/i-Pad/Android or what have you generation is only the start.

In 10-15 years, we will have interactive robots which will make all human relationships obsolete. Mark my words.

[odbo]

In Mexico, most people just blast all that music off their cell phones and boomboxes, out loud. The only people I saw using those iThingies were the "pochos" (Americanized Mexicans) and "fresas" ( preppy upper-class Mexican girls http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fresa ).

Americans are terrified of silence and need constant infotainment, as was discussed in the tv addiction thread: viewtopic.php?t=9919

Best rant on the subject

[Falcon]

It was bad enough in the early 2000's. Now middle-class younger generation Americans have been completed overtaken by Jobs' gadgets. What you see now in high schools, college student ghettos, college campuses, and gyms is an absolute nightmare.

I play a variety of musical instruments in public because I like to make my own music, not listen to some mass-produced pop music with ear-splitting melodies and meaningless lyrics. On the bus, maybe you'd expect them to tell me to stop playing because they can't listen to their iPod's; but no, they don't even say a single word or give me angry faces. People on the bus just give me robotic blank stares and then burrow deeper into their little iWorld's. Mass-produced artificial Hollywood noise is more pleasing to their ears than actual acoustic instruments. Especially when corked into both of their ear canals.

I see them everywhere, all the time. Stores, bus stops, lecture halls, restaurants, parks, libraries, private homes, social events. You name it. And they would always have the classic robotic, dumb, expressionless, apathetic, isolated, "don't approach me" looks on their faces. How am I supposed to talk to anyone? Whenever I try to do so, they say, "I can't hear you," reluctantly slide off one earbud, and then tune back into their own universes just a few seconds later (because I interrupted their rhythm).

I even see people in their cars listening to iPod's. Talk about an incubator within an incubator, or a pod within a pod!

Please, Americans, stop corking up your ear canals!

[tmr]

+1 to Grunt.

The reaction to this ipod isolation goes in four phases

First is shock and outrage.

Then is a scramble to do something about it one way or the other.

Then when you have done so you realize how idiotic most people are, how idiotic most random conversations are.

Then you reach out for the device again...

For some reason there is the expectation of 'meaningful' socialness in random casual interaction. How can there be? You won't find this anywhere in the world. Most people have their family they socialize with and a few close friends and this is true the world over. Most people the world over, have friends they make early in life usually from school or college and these are the people they stay friends with. After a certain age they don't meet new people.

In general coffee shops are the worst places to have conversations with people. To meet people in more depth outside of your immediate family, join some activity groups. When you are there for a purpose you have a reason to interact.

[Grunt]

I am not intimidated by the iPod culture phenomenon. It is preferable to a gaggle of babbling buffoons spewing mindless drivel.

As tmr said, how much meaningful discourse can anyone expect from the typical American, anyway?

The only groups I plan to involve myself with are the Ron Paul people, and once we move back to New Hampshire next year, the guys at Cop Block and maybe the Libertarians and Free State Project people. What other groups are doing anything productive?

[momopi]

Steve Jobs didn't invent the technology, nor was Apple the first company to sell it. Long before the iPod ever existed, kids from my generation were on their Sony Walkman's, taping 95.5 KLOS on Sunday evenings when they play whole records commercial free, and ignoring our parents with the headphones on.

[Mr S]

I use that device to learn while commuting. I download audio from online radio programs discussing various topics and interviewing personalities. I can listen to recorded lectures and books. I prefer to get the most out of my time and an Ipod allows me to catch up on things that I normally wouldn't be able to read or listen to. Just cause people use them doesn't mean our society is going to shit. That's a personal opinion. I generally don't just randomly try chatting to strangers anyways so even if this didn't exist I still wouldn't talk to strangers that much; I'd be lost in my own thoughts or something. Most people nowadays have nothing interesting to say anyways, you have to generally be in the right place at the right time to bump into someone that shares similar ideas and opinions that are commonly expressed on this forum. It's not going to be the norm.

[jamesbond]

Most people the world over, have friends they make early in life usually from school or college and these are the people they stay friends with. After a certain age they don't meet new people.

Boy, is that true! Winston has talked about this too, that you make your friends early in life (when you are in school) then your pretty much shit out of luck as far as making friends after that.

In America this is true 100%, a lot of people in the US have not made any new friends since they got out of high school or college. Thank God there are countries out there where the people are friendly and sociable and you CAN make new friends at any time in your life.

[Grunt]

My best friend from high school is a convicted felon (rapist, and he admits he did it too). He paints houses in the ghettos of Philadelphia and plays in a cover band on the weekends. For decades, he laughed at me because I joined the military, and he thought only losers joined the army.

Now, I have been retired for 7 years and draw about $3500 per month tax-free, I live in a 5 bedroom house, drive a new car, my credit score is 700+ and my wife is hot, young...and foreign.

The people I went to high school with were mind-numblingly boring 25 years ago, why should I expect them to be any different today? When America starts making people worth being friends with, I will get more friends.

[peakoil]

ipads and iphones probably do more harm than good

[davewe]

Don't agree on this one. I worked in a tech environment that produced an early pre-ipod MP3 player. It was cool but the memory was tiny (you could only put less than 100 songs on it) and the GUI was clunky to use. We knew if someone could create a nice interface with a large drive, they'd have a winner. 1 year later the ipod came out and our device was history.

What makes the ipod brilliant is you can carry your entire music collection (which in my case has been accumulated for over 30 years) with you in a tiny device. Whether or not you listen to that music in isolation or with others is up to you. My iphone has a strong enough speaker to easily fill up a room. On my recent trip to Boracay we were always listening to music together on the iphone or watching movies on my ipad.

[Billy]

falcon, man you are living in the middle ages. urban life is very stressful. it´s annoying whey selfproclamed musicians play music outside. urban life is often a struggel. if you want to have relaxed easygoing poeple you have to touristic or chill places.
These earphones are important tools to survive urban life. You can not live in the city like in a tiny village. People don´t want to interact with strangers because mostly nothing good comes out of it. Don´t blame the ipods.