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Poet Babies Urges iPod Users to 'Unplug, Hear the World'

Friday, March 31st, 2006 at 9:20 AM - by Staff

Advocacy group Poet Babies has launched a campaign it calls "Unplug, Hear the World" in advance of Apple's 30th anniversary on April 1. The group is selling t-shirts emblazoned with that statement and a pair of dangling earphones, as if the wearer has just pulled them out of their ears.

Poet Babies founder Scott Landsbaum said in a news release: "Constant iPod use prevents the daily encounters which create community, and how can you help someone in need or even share a smile if you're not aware of the person next to you?"

This is the first major campaign for Poet Babies, which was started by Mr. Landsbaum last year. He started writing poetry after the premature births of his niece and nephew and then founded the group "to promote the old, common values too often forgotten in our modern, divided society."

The group sells a variety of clothing that promotes themes espoused by three "characters": Poet Baby Tucker, who encourages involvement with the world and who created the "Unplug, Hear the World" campaign; Poet Baby Jack, who favors family and friends over wealth and status; and Poet Baby Megan, who prefers to view others' inner beauty, rather than the type of clothing they wear.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:33 am

How arrogant! I use my iPod in a large part because I don't want a constant interaction with the community, I don't want to "hear the world" that is full of traffic, cheesy cell phone ringers, screeching kids, pathological talkers, and all of that annoying stuff. If I want to hear the world I will go someplace where I can hear songbirds, waterfalls and the wind in the willows. This not to say I don't interact with people, but I should be my choice, and not the dictates of people who probably talk constantly and never let you have a word in edgewise.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:02 am

Maybe that guy should unplug his server so we don't have to view his tripe.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:03 am

It sounds pretty desperate actually. If people choose to tune you out (collective, not personal pronoun), take it as a sign.

And to borrow from an email we've all seen before:

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"

The graduate with an engineering degree asks, 'How does it work?"

The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"

The graduate with an arts degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:11 am

Poet Babies need to get a life

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Dean Lewis said:

member since 29 Sep 2001 with 162 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:15 am

Yeah, there's a reason most of those emails are on Snopes outed as pure B.S.

I don't mind what the guy is doing so much. I actually agree we're a pretty insular lot these days. But it doesn't take iPods to keep us from talking to one another. And, the assumption that because you're listening to an iPod you aren't going to stop and help someone in need is pretty far out there. Maybe we should promote a "Walk Your Commute to Work" day. Sure it'll take hours or even all day to get to your job, but at least you won't be stuck in your car and likely to drive by someone stranded on the side of the road.

Technology ain't the problem. (Not usually anyway. )

P.S. -- Those "babies" on their website are a little creepy, though. --shiver--

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:17 am

Gee, thanks for the advice. Now instead of listening to music in my car I'll just listen to...other cars.

I feel "more connected" already!

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:39 am

I've got nothing against iPods. But surely even the people posting these angry comments recognize that it's not indicative of a terribly attractive character to listen to them all the time when walking around in public. If you really believe that trying to shut yourelf off from what's going on around you when you're out and about is an admirable way to live, you're entitled to your opinion, but surely you recognize that there are plausible arguments for the opposing position?

I do think that to wear one of the T-shirts would be incredibly arrogant and self-righteous, and perhaps the guy who came up with them is too. But that doesn't mean there isn't any validity to the basic point he is trying to make.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:58 am

Guest wrote:
If you really believe that trying to shut yourelf off from what's going on around you when you're out and about is an admirable way to live, you're entitled to your opinion, but surely you recognize that there are plausible arguments for the opposing position?.

Yes, can't we all just get a song?

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Small White Car said:

member since 02 Jul 2004 with 1960 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:11 pm

Guest wrote:
But that doesn't mean there isn't any validity to the basic point he is trying to make.

I don't think so, no. I used to ride the subway a lot before iPods were popular. Every morning the train was SILENT as everyone was reading their newspaper or paperback book. No one talked to each other. Would this guy suggest we all stop reading since it's clearly coming between us?

The fact of the matter is, having other things to do does not CAUSE us to ignore strangers. Quite the opposite. I bring other things to do because I don't WANT to talk to strangers.

They are confusing a sympton for a cause. It's like telling a sick person to stop taking medicine because only sick people take medicine, so if you stop taking it you won't be sick!

When you look at it that way, is it any wonder people are getting agitated with them?

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:18 pm

As of January 2006, the last figures I have seen, there have been about 45 million iPods sold. How many people in the World 6 billion, not all of which can afford enough food much less an iPod. So if we eliminate the developing nations and just include North America and Europe the combined population may be just over a million. Do the math, there may be one iPod for every 20 people or so, not all of which will be listening to their iPod when they are out and about. The population figures I pulled from some web sites are real rough, but the point is that there hell of a lot more people going around not listening to iPods.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:55 pm

I just came back from my morning walk, after I read this article, and I took a good look at the people.

About half of those waiting at bus stops were using some sort of personal music player, usually the young ones. Some people were chatting, I recognized them as regulars, I walk that route 5-6 days a week.

Many teenagers going to school had on ear buds, if they were in a group they were chatting.

People coming in and out of shops or cafes were not wearing earbuds. People sitting by themselves at the Starbucks mostly were listening to an iPod, using a laptop, reading the paper, or a combination, or just enjoying the scene and obviously not interesting in social intercourse. Those sitting in groups were chatting.

Some people driving an auto were cell phoning, but most were not.

Based upon this very scientific study I have come to the conclusion that some people need time to themselves and some do not. I guess there is some sort of Tao going on and the World is trying to balance things out.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Mar 31, 2006 2:59 pm

Small White Car suggests that the popularity of listening to iPods all the time while in public spaces is a symptom of people's willingness and/or desire to isolate themselves from others. That seems clear enough. But that doesn't rule out the possibility that this habit further exacerbates this existing tendency. The claim that it does do so seems quite plausible to me. But regardless of whether this habit is merely a symptom of pre-existing tendencies or whether it is also contributing to further entrenchment of those tendencies, it is surely legitimate to ask people to think a little bit about whether those habits are desirable or not (both from the perspective of what is good for society and what is good for the individuals themselves). It's fine to disagree with the claim that the habits aren't desirable (especially if you have a decent argument supporting such a belief), but to get all riled up just because someone makes the claim strikes me as rather odd.

Regarding the analogy between people who constantly listen to iPods while in public and reading on the train, this strikes me as a poor analogy. I have done my fair share of reading on the train, and it's pretty common to have someone sit next to you when they get on, make eye contact with you as you look up from your book to see who has sat next to you, and then strike up a conversation (often with the book itself as the starting point for the conversation). Contrast this healthy social interaction with what usually happens with people who are listening to iPods. A classic example happened to me a few weeks ago when I was lost in a town that I wasn't familiar with, and tried to ask a local person for directions. He was wearing an iPod and was completely oblivious to my several attempts to catch his attention and talk to him.

To respond to another comment: yes, it's true that people don't tend to listen to their iPods when they're with a group of friends. But if they're in the habit of cranking up the iPod as soon as they go off on their own, then this exacerbates the cliqueish tendency of only communicating with one's close associates. There is a whole library full of arguments explaining why this is not a good thing either for individuals themselves or for a well-functioning democratic society.

To sum up, there are pretty decent reasons for getting people to think twice about whether it is a good idea to seal oneself off from the rest of the world the majority of the time that one is out by oneself in public. Those who don't even want to think about this or who get upset that someone would even suggest such a thing can keep their heads in the sand if they wish, but I for one miss the fact that there aren't as many spontaneous conversations with strangers on the train as there used to be before iPods became so common. Those strangers usually had interesting things to say and I enjoyed meeting almost all of them, especially since so many of them were the kind of people that I would never know anything about if it weren't for these chance encounters.

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