Posted on 05/17/2005 2:57:06 PM PDT by ambrose
Posted on Tue, May. 17, 2005
Not everybody loves iPods
By JASMINE JOHNSON
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Most teenagers know the latest music craze is the iPod. And most teenagers, it seems, have them. I don't. And I don't care.
This creepy "iPod obsession" has gone too far. Here are five reasons why I hate iPods:
1. They cause addiction. Warning: When you're at school and you daydream about getting home to download a new song on your iPod, you are, in fact, addicted to it.
2. iPod crazies become iPod hermits. If people give up hanging out with friends to play with or listen to their iPod, they're obsessed, and it's a sign they need to get out more. Obsession is not good. In fact, it's actually quite weird and slightly psychotic.
3. Imaginary iPod friends. When a person names the iPod and starts referring to it by that name, it's time to switch to the radio for a while. At least we all know there are real DJs on the other end of the box.
4. iPod envy. Forget designer clothes separating the haves and have-nots. People with iPods can be wearing secondhand jeans, and they're still considered "A-list." Those of us without iPods are made to feel like the red-headed stepchildren of cool.
5. There's no known treatment for iPod-crazy, except to give it up. I know a few people who need to undergo treatment for obsessive iPod disorder. Unfortunately, there's not one. If you are one of these people, save yourself before it's too late. Quit for a while before you, too, become an iPod zombie. Jasmine Johnson is a freshman at Lamar High School in Arlington, Texas.
Maybe Jasmine can get a job when she graduates from high school, and save up for her very own iPod.
Re#9 I understand and agree, having toyed with one for a couple minutes. They are amazing...
A couple weeks back,
I visited the Apple
store in Chicago.
I got there before
it opened, and about ten
other people were
waiting to get in
so I couldn't see the hours
posted on the door.
And I couldn't ask
anyone when they opened
because everyone
stand there had plugs
wired to their ears and was zoned
to iPod music.
It was like some chic
zombie Dawn of the Dead scene.
Pretty, but creepy.
Re#21 Agreed. My inadequately expressed point was that the Ipod is much more prevalent in numbers. Much more...
Now THAT I believe.
I'm still trying to figure out if you're independently wealthy, or have a chip in your head ;o>
| Methinks the biggest danger is not this obsession thing, but the damage that kids will be doing to their hearing cranking them up....
What about the cars? Yesterday I'm sitting here by the window and I hear this THUMP THUMP THUMP. I look out and there's this all-black Sumthinorother with tinted windows sitting at the light. Right while I'm looking at it, the doors pop off the thing and the people go flying right out into the street. They could turn those things down, too. |
silver fillings are better than any chip ;o) As for indedently wealthy.. well I'm independently poor and have chosen to funnel funds into a cable modem as opposed to food :D
It's not a fad, it's a cultural shift.
Remember the book "Tipping Point"?
That point at which a technology or attitude or anything reaches critical mass...and from that point on, there is no going back.
Cell phones. Computers. Internet. Regular workouts are part of a healthy life, not something to laugh at (when the jogging craze first strarted, joggers actually had people THROWING things at them!), but now runners are part of every landscape.
Anyway, you cite the Walkman...how does a fad last 25+ years? That's not a fad, that's a new way of doing things. Fad? Pet Rock.
As for your comment on wrecking hearing with too-loud volume...you are right.
Jasmine's little opinions might count for more when her complexion clears up.
My problem is- there's no handheld radio out there that'll pick up the radio stations that run Laura Ingraham, Sean and others. Modern music is pretty trashy these days; I avoid it. I am a musician through and through.
Re#29 Upon reflection, I stand corrected. You are right. 'tis no fad as that term is properly applied and iPods will be around for a long, long time, evolving and being copied. I think too that Gates may be right about phones replacing them as technology progresses. BTW, continuing thanks for your hard work on this site...
Having an iPod means never having to put up with someone else's musical tastes.
Hey, I don't know about my "hard work on this site," (truth be told, when I'm blatting away here, I should be doing other things, but I love it so much), but you are my new best friend, as you said words I wake up every day hoping to hear--from anybody: "You are right."
Feels good...yeah.
Married 33 years in August. Wife is considering uttering those words for the first time, for her, if I'm really, really good between now and then.
But she probably won't. Heard the joke about how prison is better than marriage? In marriage, you have to prove your worth every single day. In prison, at least you earn time for good behavior.
Thanks.
I too 'suffer' from a bit of an FR addiction. So much that I use all of my class time in the computer lab to search the site. My teacher always says that my parents must be incredibly rich, and is always talking about how I should serve the poor more, and I would become a lib. My family is far from rich. My parents had me, and my brother 18 months later, when my dad was working on a phD, and my mom worked all night as a nurse to pay for our basement moldy apartment with dark dark paneling. Proved her wrong...
What spoiled brats.
Poor parenting, as usual.
Ironically enough, I use my iPod as a music source for my stereo. It's convenient, sounds great, and I don't have to futz with those silly earphones. It's also nice to be able to change the volume using a real knob independent from the computer volume, so I can have light music in the background easily even when I'm working on video editing/production.
I tried wearing it out and I realized how much of an isolation chamber it made things. I realized that I go out to enjoy the sensations associated with going out, and stopped wearing it.
But I use it for almost every waking hour when I'm working or playing on my computer, and that's probably 90% of my waking hours.
D
Oh, thank God. I thought an adult had lost their mind.
Forgot one thing I should have said: It may be the new cigarette, but at least it doesn't poison you or irritate bystandards with real or imagined health complaints.
That makes it a step in the right direction, if nothing else.
D
This author has I-Pod envy, no doubt about it.
They are just the new walkman.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
WHAT? Oh, their hearing. Yeah, they should use Koss headphones and tube amps like I did back in the 60's. Crank that thing up, put on Light My Fire, and I could almost stand the fact that I was in an Army barracks.