On July 1, 1979 Sony introduced the world’s first low-cost
portable stereo called the Walkman.1 This tiny device changed the
world of music listening forever.
First off, I am a fan of all things music. I love to listen
to it. After all, I do work in radio and I am a DJ. However, I’ve noticed some
things that have really started to irk me.
I was trying to read a book today and couldn’t concentrate
because different music was being played in almost every room of my house. It
was so loud and so confusing that I had to go outside to enjoy something that
many of us are unfamiliar with nowadays; silence.
Why have we become so accustom to having so much noise all
the time? Everywhere we go we hear people listening to music. Most of the time
people have it playing so loudly that it sounds like they don’t even have
headphones on, and there are fewer and fewer people who are actually polite
enough to even still wear headphones.
Almost every electronic device we own plays music now. We
can’t make it 10 minutes without hearing someone playing music through their
cell phone or computer or tablet or GPS system. Even though the speaker quality
of most of these gadgets suck, we choose to listen to something shitty over listening
to nothing at all. Are we really listening? Are we really allowing the music to take
us away? Or are we just looking to be distracted?
I feel like I am the only person my age who enjoys falling
asleep in silence. I feel like I am the only person who does my laundry without
having to have music playing in different rooms, just in case I have to leave
the basement. I used to think that having a stereo or TV in the bathroom was a
joke. Now it’s a reality.
What has caused this? Why do we have to have something
always stimulating our ears? I remember going outside with my dad, as a kid,
and enjoying the sounds of nature. We didn’t need to hear music. When we went
to bed we didn’t need the TV on. We didn’t need to play everything so damned
loudly that the neighborhood could sing along.
Music is supposed to take us on a journey. We are supposed
to disappear into it. The same principle applies to TV shows and movies. We are
supposed to use entertainment as a momentary escape from life, not as a
soundtrack to it.
Sometimes, we have to play our music just to drown out everyone else's. I can’t remember what if feels like to just have the natural
sounds of life play by themselves. I used to fall asleep to the filter in my
fish tank bubbling calmly through the night. Now, I can hardly hear it over the
newest Katy Perry single. Nothing against Katy, but she should not be played
after 10:00PM unless it’s at a bar or party.
I know I haven’t really proven anything here, but there’s
nothing to prove. We all have the minds of a two year old. We need to be
constantly distracted. If you don’t believe me, try and take a vacation away
from your music and TV and movies and cell phone games and Facebook. I dare you
for one week to turn it all off. Books are allowed. So are newspapers and magazines.
Why? Because they force you to sit down and think. I doubt you’ll be able to
pull it off. Think you can? Try. Let me know how it goes!
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