The desocialization of the world, courtesy of Steve Jobs

The iPod today as we know it is not what it was when it first came out. It has gone from being a mere music player to our lifeline. An iPod today can do things that were probably once ever dreamed about. It can the do the simplest of concepts like playing games to the most complex activities such as controlling the entire electrical system of your house. As much as it has made our lives easier, it has also made the world incredibly antisocial. We cannot however place all of the blame for this desocialization of thw world on the iPod alone. This trend has started long ago with the simple invention of headphones and walkmans and the concept of being able to immense yourself in a completely different world, shut out from everyone else. Music used to be a social thing when people would listen to records or the radio together. Today it has become more of an escape from the world. Most people today do not listen to music publically unless they are at a club or any other big event, its all enjoyed through headphones. Take NYC for example, whenever you are walking around or taking the subway, how many people do not have a set of headphones on? What is even worse are the noise cancelling headphones because they're purpose is to completely shut out the world around you and have you totally immensed in the music. Is our world that boring that we need to immense ourselves in something totally different? Or do we just not have the ability to handle a situation for so long without feeling the need to jump and do something else like Nicholas Carr mentioned in his article about Google? I personally own a pair of nosise cancelling headphones and find them extremely comfortable and great to use when I do listen to my music. My parents hate them because I never hear a single thing around me, but most of the time, when I put them on it is only to keep out everything around me and to just let me completely relax. As much as I love my headphones I cannot deny the fact that they do cut their users off from everything else. Perhaps all of this is a reason why ticket prices for concerts have become so incredibly high, because it is so rare to see people enjoying music publicly anymore. It's almost as those when artists come to town, some people are willing to sell anything to go and see an artist perform. A few days ago I checked on stubhub.com to see what the tickets prices were to see Jay-Z at the garden on March 2nd, I found that the prices ranged from about $80-$11,000. $11,000!!!!! That could be the price of someones college tuition and some moron is asking people to pay that for a front row seat at the garden. The last concert that I went to was Blink-182 at the garden this past october and I payed about $70 for my ticket and I thought that that was a lot. I am also going to see John Mayer in February and I paid about $90 for that and I still think that that is a lot but those were two concerts that I truly wanted to go to. I do however want to see Jay-Z extremely bad as well but I guess I have to wait until the next time he comes to town. My point is that ticket prices are so extremely high because since people do not enjoy music publicly anymore they flock to the venues to see these artists perform as though it was the last time they were ever going to hear these songs again. Take the Beatles for example, theyre last live preformance was not a sold out show in Madisoon Square Garden or any other famous arena, it was a speratic "concert" on the rooftop of the Apple Corps studio in London in the middle of the day. This is what live music is all about and should be, they just took their instruments and sang for the public, no tickets required. Paul Mccartney also did this right before his show at Citifield this summer. Except he performed on top of the marquis at the Ed sullivan Theater in Times Square and it also was completely random. It wasnt formal or anything like that, it was just the public enjoying the music like it should be. Paul McCartney's appearance in Times Square is extremely rare and probably will not happen again for a long time, if ever. That is how music should be though, not just plugging in and shutting yourself out from the world. Music should be public and not just used to shut out everything around you. Music like the Beatles and many other artists is meant to be enjoyed with everyone, not just the person with the headphones. Sadly this is what our society has turned into and what the makers of these products aim for they are selling it. The creators of the iPod had in mind that people will now be listening to music alone and not in public anymore. Granted they sell speakers for the iPod but the whole purpose around the iPod is to be personal, hence the "i" in front of it. Its not the "wePod" its the "iPod" and that is exactly what they are pushing.