The iPodization of American Society.

I would like to know when the ipod migrated from being a useful music delivery appliance to a must have, must-wear-at-all-times (even if inappropriate) accessory de jouir? I cant go anywhere anymore without seeing those “stylish”, “look at me” earphones plugged into peoples ears. The mall, at work, on the street, the grocery store, the bank, even in the car. I’m not sure when Americans decided that it is absolutely impossible for them to live their lives without a constant stream of music being blasting in their ears. This is clearly a brand-generated fad that’s gone horribly wrong. There are multiple MP3 devices on the market and I NEVER see any of those being used inappropriately in public. I only see the ipods. Apple has created a culture of music-addicted zombies. I think there’s a screenplay in this somewhere.

MP3 players have been on the market since the 90’s. I had one in 99 that was actually smaller than the ipod itself. It didn’t hold nearly as many songs (maybe 3 hours), but I knew that I would never use it more than a couple of hours because that’s just how these devices are meant to be used. They aren’t meant to provide the soundtrack to your life all day long, everywhere you go. If I were a parent of a high school age kid, I would STRONGLY suggest that you prod your youngster into becoming an ENT physician. Because given state of ipod fanaticism, there are going to be a lot of people with chronic hearing loss in about 10 years.

Of course I have an ipod. I’m a sucker for em. But I only use it when I’m on airplanes and when I’m running. That’s it. The next time I see a 20-something with the ipod earphones on in the grocery store, I’m going to dump a bunch of embarrassing items in their cart when they’re not looking. They’ll be completely oblivious to it.

Big Picture: Between email, cell phones, PDA and ipods, we have all managed to completely cut ourselves off from the outside world. It’s ironic that that undertone of the ipod branding initiative is “individualism”. We are all becoming so “individualized” that we’re forgetting the importance of belonging to and interacting with a group. So don’t be surprised when you find some extra large adult diapers in your shopping cart next time you decide to jam out in the grocery store. It’ll be my calling card.