Professor of Anthropology Douglas Raybeck was interviewed in the Detroit News for the article "iPods set off iMania; Portable music players create their own culture -- and controversy." Raybeck said, "They isolate us, more accurately, they insulate us."
According to the article, "Human beings need the kind of acknowledgement the iPod people are taking away, Raybeck contends. He worries that with activated ear buds, people don't micro nod, give brief eye contact, smile or do anything to confirm others' personhood. People might rebel against them, he fears."
"The iPod is not annoying," Raybeck says. "What is annoying is some of the behavior that it promotes. No one likes being completely ignored."
This phenomenon is beyond civil inattention, such as that of a daydreaming student who jumps and tells a teacher, "I'm sorry I was spacing." As far as Reybeck is concerned, most iPod people are spacing in a metaphorical and literal sense.
Raybeck says this constant listening to music, spacing and lack of communication "will change our society as we know it. I'm anticipating second order changes. They are abrupt and wholly unpredictable and could promote it by exacerbating this tendency of individualism and insularity at the expense of community and sharing. You can get a revolt. You can see it happening a little bit now."
