BACK ON grounds after a delightful Winter Break, I've noticed an increasingly popular trend that has me at a loss. More and more students walk around Grounds with headphones in their ears. It seems relatively innocuous at first: People like music, and people have distances to walk. I will admit, there are few things worse than a walk from McCleod to Gilmer with nothing to do but scan your phone book for someone to chat with during the journey, but when iPods become the go-to solution to these walking woes, students miss out on interactions and experiences and may even put themselves at risk of serious injury.
One would be hard-pressed to find many people without some sort of portable music player. As more students listen to music while they walk, however, the entertainment can overwhelm their surroundings. It has happened to all of us before; music can be so entrancing that everything else becomes easy to ignore, and situational awareness becomes a secondary concern behind ensuring that "Crank That" by Soulja Boy is somewhere on the play list. There are certainly instances where this escape from immediate reality can be a godsend -- plane rides, mandatory film screenings and at the gym -- but sometimes the sounds the iPod tunes out are more compelling than the songs it tunes in.
The accessibility of portable music technology deafens pedestrians to the world around them. With iPod sales showing no signs of slowing, it is more important than ever to highlight the cost of such MP3 player ubiquity. ?
There are thousands of sounds one can hear within just a few steps in either direction on Grounds -- the hiss of cars on a rainy day on Emmet Street, the whistling of wind through the pavilions' pillars on the Lawn, and the din of classes ending are all auditory treats that get engulfed when those white earphones come out. I had a screening the other night, and when I got out it was dark and cold. The temperature made the walk to the Corner more or less insufferable, but I was struck by the silence that blanketed Grounds. It was an impressive quiet, and it was an experience that has stayed with me for a few days now. It is this sort of acoustic effect that one may miss if everything within walking distance is reached with an iPod playing. The little thing effectively removes its user from significant interaction with the environment, and though hearing Justin Timberlake between classes is such a luxury, the iPod can overwhelm any aural experience.
Beyond such lofty consequences, listening to an iPod while traveling across Grounds can have practical ramifications as well. Safety is always a concern for pedestrians, and in Charlottesville a student walking from building to building has to be especially wary. Traffic, winter conditions and the memory of recent crimes on the Corner all contribute to an environment in which awareness is crucial. In situations like this, people are often alerted to danger by sound rather than sight, and listening to music can impede one's ability to detect approaching danger.
"People don't pay any attention when they walk around Grounds, and an added distraction like music only makes it worse," says Jeff Hall, a fourth year in the College, "Last semester I saw a kid cross McCormick without even looking up ... he almost got hit."Walking around Grounds wrapped up in a new iTunes purchase can be entertaining, but that respite from the boredom of a walk often comes at the price of one's attention and can prove dangerous for both the listener and others.
I like music as much as anyone, and I have no real problem with iPods. Walking around Grounds can get tedious, and I often find myself wishing I had my iPod to break up the boredom. There's nothing outright wrong with listening to music as you walk around Grounds. If it makes you happy, go for it. But with earphones in, a walk becomes nothing more than a time to hear the latest album, rather than an experience in itself, and by enveloping the listener in a world of sound, the iPod removes him or her from a range of noises that can be heard around Grounds.
Don't throw your iPod in a drawer and refuse to use it. Just remember that tuning out can be just as rewarding as tuning in.
David Infante's column appears Fridays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at dinfante@cavalierdaily.com.
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