We live in an era where seeing somebody wearing on or in ears listening devices is the norm, no longer the exception. And what choices there are! There was a time when the only choice a listener had to consume media on the go was the radio station they wanted to listen to. Every kid wanted a transistor radio, and then a portable tape recorder. Later, Sony introduced the Walkman, and quality audio playback was available everywhere. Remember, headphone technology had to evolve to a more compact size while still delivering clean sound. Gone, at least temporarily, were the bulky, over ear headphones, replaced by much smaller and lighter devices with a simple metal band and micro speakers covered with comfortable foam rubber. Portable sound was now much less cumbersome, and yet sounded fantastic. And let’s not overlook what may be the greatest asset, that of being personal. No longer were we being aurally assaulted by terrible music, or in my case, assaulting others with mine. Could I help it if a very few were cool enough to enjoy the music I liked?
These days, earbuds are ubiquitous. And I like that. Chances are, I don’t want to be subjected to someone else’s horrible tunes or political propaganda. Do you have a coworker that insists on loudly playing banal, talentless, overproduced pop music over a bluetooth speaker? Asking for a friend, BTW. Personal listening devices, I’ll refer to them as PLDs, allow us to tune out. Or do they allow us to tune in? I guess that depends. I had another coworker that would wear the Walkman earphones at work. I asked him what he was listening to, and he responded, “Nothing. I just don’t want people talking to me”. Well played. In this case, he was tuning out. Now that the engineers have solved the problem of listening privately, can we pray that they will develop technology that allows (forces) people to speak privately? Have you noticed that the more personal a conversation, or the more crowded a room, the louder some folks talk on their phones? We’re all happy that your hemorrhoid surgery went well, but we wish you would’ve spared us the recommended followup treatments. I’m anti Bill Gates mark of the beast vaccine microchip (allegedly), but if he wants to develop a vaccine microchip that will disable the vocal cords of “loud on the phone in public” guy, I’ll wholeheartedly support him. I’ll even help finance it, as if he needs my money. And we should tune out certain sounds, songs, speech, and conversations. But at the same time, we should also be intentional to tune in to other sources of sounds, songs, speech, and conversations. So the answer to the question, “Tuned Out Or Tuned In” should be an emphatic “Yes”!
(Click “Stand on Firmer Ground” for a deeper look into Tuned Out Or Tuned In?)