I had a comically bad day yesterday, like dropping things, almost lost my keys down the drain on the sidewalk, spilled soup at the store near a makeup section, almost tore my pants, got back from the store only to find out I was out of TP, etc.
It was more funny than anything else, like so much random trivial bad luck in one day is like something out of some 90s Tom Hanks comedy.
But there was one thing that actually annoyed me - on my way back from the store on my grocery trip, my phone suddenly went from a healthy 7% to 0% and died. I was stuck with no music for the remainder of the walk back.
Soooo I was forced to listen to the sound of well - nothing at all basically.
Just birds chirping, wind blowing, leaves rustling, all as I walked the same path I walk all the time and see the same things I’ve seen hundreds of times, just waiting to get home.
Don’t get me wrong I love where I live and everything, it’s a really cool city with good pedestrian infrastructure, I almost never even get close to a car and it’s not some smelly euro village either, but seeing the same things I’ve already seen and having no stimuli at all, it wasn’t that big a deal but it was unpleasant.
That got me thinking - I sometimes see folks not wearing earphones outside, and I’ve heard on more than one occasion from some acquaintances that they don’t listen to music outside, and I wonder - why’s that?
Why would you choose to do that?
And, what do y’all like, do, exactly? How do you deal with the monotony of your grocery trips or things like that when you don’t even have music on? Do you just never get bored of walking the same roads/neighborhoods w/e day after day?
Enjoy the world around me. Using the extra sensory input to avoid being run over by cars.
Dons right hand man: alright, the mark has started not wearing their headphones. This throws a wrench in our plans. What’s our counter?
Bobby 2: alls wes gotsa dos is just distract em. Bobby 1, you wait behind the bushes in the parking lot. Wiseguy Phil waits across the street. As soon as 1 sees the mark, he lays on the horn. Then Phil just runs em over while they are looking at 1.
DRHM: but we only got one car!
Bobby 2: sos steals one, do I gotta dos all the thinkin around heres?
Is it really that bad in America? Like I lived in London where cars were plentiful as well but honestly I never had to worry about them, even when I crossed a red by accident or something like that they go so slowly that it was fairly easy to dodge them.
I’m gonna take a safe guess that London has generally much smaller streets and cars than the majority of America, so it would be safer yes. Outside of the cities and a couple of streets in smaller town centres, most cars are likely to be going 50km/h or more down a road with spotty or missing sidewalks and there’s probably a 50% chance of it being an F150. Now I have had good luck with drivers here slowing for me, but it only takes one time to be permanently crippled… So is it “that” bad? Depends what your “that” is, but it is worse yes.
/boggle
I don’t require constant stimulation.
I do, but the leaves rustling and birds chirping provides it for me. OP describing that as a bad thing is what boggles me.
Yeah no kidding!
I like it too, but obviously it gets a bit boring in the same area after the 5th through to the 365th time
I take one of two routes for an evening walk almost every day. It’s never occurred to me to listen to music or anything else while I do.
I live in a rural area with nice scenery. If you pay attention, it is different every day. Something new is starting to grow/bloom/die back, new birds have arrived or departed, the clouds are different, the air feels different, neighbors sheep are being silly in a different way.
I go specifically at sunset, so I find that very stimulating and no two sunsets are the same. I think about my day, my plans, goals, etc. It’s peaceful.
That’s crazy, I would go nuts from the monotony of something like that.
I don’t live rurally and I love it, I have nice scenery as well, and I notice all the same things and think about all the same things just like you, but keeping one of my senses busied and tied down is important to facilitate mindfulness, not the opposite.
It is interesting to hear your unique and unusual perspective though.
I’m sure you have a bunch of songs you don’t mind hearing over and over, so it’s not that different to enjoy your environment even if it’s mostly the same every day.
Yeah there’s always a limit for me though, once every ounce of dopamine has been extracted from the song/environment, it’s kinda over. Eventually it becomes nostalgic and returns, briefly.
do birds chirp on a loop near you? Mine keep a certain cadence but its always unique.
ngl, sounds like a skill issue
Ngl, If I wanted regurgitated buzzwords I’d talk to a fucking LLM or god forbid a redditor.
There was an elective college class that I took that was about movies. There were some really meh movies but one that surprised me was called Smoke. This scene here stuck with me the most because it changed the way I look at the areas I see every day.
This post reminded of this Wikipedia article someone shared here a bit ago. If you don’t pay attention, everything becomes the same.
Did you play Dark Age of Camelot?
Also, I require constant stimulation.
I did.
Then you must be old, as am I. Though my obsession was Everquest.
EQ and later WoW. I didn’t have enough time to de EQ right.
Did you write this post deliberately to trigger us? Some examples; The phone died when it should have 7% left, spilling soup at a store, smelly euro village and of course the main question.
This is 100% ironic bait.
But to answer the question, you shouldn’t use headphones because they are dependent on your phone. You use this because it runs on its own D Cells and doesn’t need cell service.
Keeping good music to yourself is rude.
Time to go on a relaxing hike.
Lol, well jokes aside apparently people think that with how many are blasting brainrot tiktoks on full blast on public transport.
Edit: literally downvoted for saying you shouldn’t blast tiktoks on public transport. God help us all. I haven’t kept tabs on Lemmy for a loooong time but this ain’t the same place it was when I left.
Huh? No I didn’t write this to trigger anyone. The walk is only like 10 mins each way, 7% is usually more than enough to last another 10 minutes. The sudden drop to 0% is unexpected and unusual.
I don’t get how spilling the soup at store is meant to be ironic either.
If you drop one of these, they tend to crack open and spill slightly:
Obviously I told a staff member about it and she took it and told me not to worry.
The smelly euro village is a bit of sass on my part, just a more fun way of saying “walkable and modern dense city”.
Just birds chirping, wind blowing, leaves rustling
To me that just sounds kinda nice
I agree. This is exactly why I don’t wear headphones a lot of the time. So I can listen to those exact noises.
Sometimes I hang out on the porch just to listen to the not very loud noises of nature. Very relaxing.
I agree about all of this, but I have a counterfactual example to post. I was going on a long hike in the woods once, and I found that it was extremely uncomfortable to be alone with my thoughts for such a long time. I tried focusing on the nature around me, but it was just uncomfortable. So I eventually caved and put on headphones and it really helped to listen to something else as I was walking through this beautiful spot.
So now I see headphones as situational. Sometimes they do help when you don’t have enough stimulus to distract you from your own thoughts. If your own thoughts are particularly annoying, but in general I do try to be in appreciation of the nature around me. The birds chirping, the leaves rustling, the people going about their lives, etc.
Extended time spent in nature is how I became comfortable with my thoughts. If I had nonstop music as a kid that may have never happened.
Yes, I still have some pretty awful thoughts but figured out how to either let them go or use them for villain themes in tabletop games.
Yeah sure I like it too, but not day after day damn near every day in the same place at roughly the same times.
not some smelly euro village either
??
As in, not a rural area. It’s just a little banter, I meant no offense.
I think the question is best answered by reversing it. Why do you choose to listen to music?
Now don’t get me wrong I listen to a ton of stuff. I have an mp3 player for air travel and I listen to all kinds of things in my car and for my whole shift at a manufacturing job I used to have.
But out on the street, on a bike or on the trails I never have any music on. From a practical standpoint it’s simply safer to be aware of what’s going on, but that’s not the point for me.
I use that time to just let my mind wander and internalize info I learned that day or to look back on things that happened recently. That boredom is soon replaced with thoughts and daydreams and feelings and memories. And it’s nice to see my part of the world as it is, without any filter and seeing how places and people change day by day.
Same exactly for me. I listen to tons of music at work and at home on my own time. But never outside.
I don’t use a car, almost all of my travel is by walking. So I listen to music for the same reason you listen to anything in your car or at your job.
But for me it is also a way to forget about work and tune out the shit around me and focus my inner thoughts and inner life and also observe the world and get inspired.
Y’all must live some pretty unsafe places if you need to pay attention to your surroundings that much. My condolences.
I don’t listen to music in my car or at work, music is more of an active thing for me. I want to pay attention to it and sing along! If I’m focusing on something else, like driving, I just tune out the music anyways. Sometimes I’ll get stoned and play the OoT soundtrack in the background while I draw, but that’s about it. I don’t even think I own headphones, unless I have some packed away with my old iPod nano. It’s pretty cool how we all experience the same world in such different ways, isn’t it?
Are you trolling us?
If not, try getting into meditation, so you can learn to appreciate the moment for what it is, rather than seek constant stimulation.
Technology is ruining humanity, no wonder so many people are lonely and depressed.
Da hell? I’m not lonely or depressed, are you nuts?
Carrying grocery bags to and from my flat isn’t “appreciating the moment”, I do this every other day, it’s just boring and routine so I throw some music on to keep it fun and so I can do something more proactive mentally rather than just stare off towards my feet or surroundings I literally always see anyway.
All I’m saying is it’s clearly a big issue for you not being constantly stimulated if you took the time to create a whole post about this and answer every other stranger’s comment. Meditation is just one of the options to address this issue, the best one IMO. You don’t have to be sad or depressed to practice meditation.
you took the time to create a whole post about this and answer every other stranger’s comment.
OP’s not here for an answer. They’re here for an argument. That’s why they’re replying to everyone to disagree.
Or maybe I just disagree with the insane amount of judgement and projection aimed at me in this thread for no fucking reason at all, after posting about something fairly common and uncontroversial, therefore I am replying with what I think.
Some of us are actually intellectually honest, we agree with the ideas we agree with and disagree with the ideas we disagree with, not everything is motivated by some animalistic desire for an argument like you seem to imply.
I’d much prefer to agree with likeminded folks or hear some well-reasoned perspectives but alas, I’m not going to agree with shit takes parroting LLM pop-psych influencer buzzword bullshit about muh stimulation muh technology in a condescending tone like I have a problem - when i never implied the opposite even though I easily could have done so and would have if I really wanted a fight - (and I would’ve made an art of it, too).
I will keep replying and stating my point and my case no matter how many cookie cutter morons yap about “meditation” or w/e else comes out their monkey-ass cranium.
I fundamentally don’t care about any of this, but I will keep replying because I want folks here scrolling by this thread - horrified by the behaviour of the commentariat swarm - wondering what they must have smoked that people parrot pop-psych bullshit about dopamine as if it were gospel and hold up their life in a Christian heaven/hell dichotomy like a 50s housewife all clued up on what’s the trendy oppressive shit to spew.
I want those folks to know that the hivemind is frail and weak and cannot stand the smallest challenge, challenge that I pose purely by existing and just saying the inoffensive and largely uncontroversial IRL things I think in a calm manner and that they are not alone in being reasonable and rational and normal people still exist out there in the world, I’m just sorry they have to read through the rest of this thought toilet of a comments section.
Thank you for proving my point.
How have I proven your point? Did you even read what I wrote? Or is that too much to ask from your buzzword spouting ass?
You’re still here five days later trying to provoke an argument. You’re proving it over and over again.
I’m sorry you’re so stressed and frustrated that you feel the need to get online and fight with someone. Have you considered unplugging for a while and going for a peaceful walk?
I created this post on the toilet while I was taking a dump at work.
It’s a random thought that occurred to me. It’s not an issue and it’s not big and I don’t have an “issue” or any fucking “issues”, and it’s fucking insulting for you to insinuate anything of the sort.
Meditate on that you condescending prick.
You also might wanna work on your anger management.
Already have, I found it’s well managed when it’s directed at assorted internet morons setting new records in retarded shit they say.
It’s not so much anger though, more like disappointment. Do better.
Just birds chirping, wind blowing, leaves rustling, all as I walked the same path I walk all the time<
This would be one why I don’t wear headphones outside. Hearing the natural ambience of a space is rewarding.
The other personal reason is that I’m in front of a screen about 12 hours a day and crave those few hours of respite from being hooked up to technology.
Yeah, once, twice - sure. But you’d be insane to want to listen to largely the same sounds over and over on the same walk day after day. That’s peak brainrot tbh.
Even though I am listening to podcasts almost all the time I am outside, doing groceries, commuting, running errands, I can totally get that there are people whose brains are wired differently than mine that need what you might describe as auditory monotony because listening to familiar sounds in a familiar surrounding gives then safety and is easier on their brains.
I don’t find this surprising because most people need some degree of routines or rituals to function so I don’t see why this human tendency to reduce complexity (see: Niklas Luhmann) wouldn’t apply to what you’re listening or not listening to.
This doesn’t have to do anything with brain rot, just that brains work differently and need different stimuli.
Hey if the people ITT don’t owe me the benefit of the doubt for being ever so slightly different than their hyperonline idea of a person - so much so swarm downvotes at the very notion of someone just existing who’s basic experiences contradict their faulty assumptions about what’s what - then I don’t owe them that either.
Huh? I mean… I agree that a lot of people in this thread act surprisingly hostile to you but I wasn’t even referring to those people, just trying to give an answer to your question, that feels kinda underrepresented in this thread: We’re all wired differently and need different forms and levels of stimulus to function properly. 🤷
That much is obvious of course, though that’s not to say I don’t appreciate you saying so, frankly it’s like a breath of fresh air after spending time watching poop be flung by monkeys with a passion for it.
Their hostility is unsurprising to me.
As a trans person I get it all the time in the form of vile transphobia.
This isn’t the same of course, this is harmless, absurdly pointless type of discourse, but it stems from the same place ultimately.
All it takes to threaten the hivemind’s simulacrum and bring out the disciples of the distorted reality fed to the closeminded and the afraid by their holy algorithmic funnels is stating the most inoffensive things plainly as they are without mincing words, and voila - holy war.
It depends how much exposure to Tech you have and whether taking a break is important for you. For most people the exposure to constant stimulus is too much.
Phones and technology have essentially eliminated boredom from our lives, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
I’ve had 16 hours of screen time a day since early childhood. It’s not about the time it’s about how you spend it. I’ve never “mindlessly scrolled” and I can’t even fathom what level of intellectual dishonesty would permit a person to do so.
If that feels fine for you then more power to you. I’m just saying why I don’t personally wear headphones in public.
thinking about stuff (what to eat later, what to do later, etc), chatting with a friend/family member, looking around to see what’s happening (construction, birds doing bird things, plants changing shape/size/color, etc), reading, or humming to a song you know (you don’t need your phone to enjoy music!)
I mean, I do all of those too, (except the humming because that’s pretty weird to do in public), while also listening to music.
if not humming, then listening to music in your mind!
Oh yeah for sure, and I do do that as well, you never know what kind of melody will pop in, but most of the time, when I’m walking to the store it’s not exactly inspirational or got me feeling creative anyway.
For me - creativity requires initial stimulus. Some boredom is good, but too much and it’s depressing, and induces anhedonia. A right level of adventure is perfect. Walk to the store, not exactly an adventure. But the mind can travel. Will it be this today, or something more like this, maybe a bit of this or like that or maybe something older or totally out of the leftfield.
The possibilities are endless.
Some boredom is good, but too much and it’s depressing, and induces anhedonia
So you struggle with a 10 minute walk without music because that causes too much boredom for you?
I don’t “struggle”, it’s just a bit annoying.
I literally said in the OP that it’s obviously not a big deal.
This reads like satire but I assume you’re being serious.
I’m not really doing anything instead. I’m listening in both cases - only the what I’m listening to changes. Listening to music - or podcasts in my case - is a bit of an distraction. I don’t want to be distracted all the time. I’m more present when I’m listening to the world instead, and it gives more space for my thoughts. I never even have the radio on in my car because to me, driving is almost a meditative experience and I like to just sit there in relative silence and focus on the driving itself. I’m stimulated one way or another for the vast majority of the day anyway. I think it’s good to have these intentional moments built into your daily routine where you let yourself be bored. It’s good for you.
That’s interesting, for me music helps me focus, otherwise I just end up endlessly distracted and completely away from the world.
Obviously I understand the point about boredom and am aware of it, only the most brainrotten people think boredom isnt good for you, but I am still bored when walking, out of all the senses, only my ears are occupied, almost everything else is kind of an autopilot, like in those studies where people who drive down the same roads for decades end up being dangerous because their brain is no longer actively processing their surroundings.
For me it’s more like music is a way to direct my thoughts or to set a tone for them. Maybe I’d like to think about something nostalgic, or something new, and music sets the tone and tunes out distractions in the world so I can stay cognitively engaged.
otherwise I just end up endlessly distracted and completely away from the world.
Can you dig more into what you mean by that? I assume you mean distracted by your thoughts, rather than the world itself.
No, distracted by the world, away from my thoughts on the world.
When I pick my music, I set a tone and vibe of the mental journey while my body autopilots to the store and back, then everything else - inner ambitions, dreams, ideas, thoughts, observations immediate and past etc. slots in.
Edit: downvoted for a literal description of my life lol.
I actually pay attention to my environment? I don’t walk onto a busy road without looking?
I don’t use earphones outside because it’s unsafe: Awareness of surroundings is paramount. You say you rarely see a car but not everyone is so lucky. I’m guessing you’re younger, too: When I was a youth, walking with headphones or earbuds meant you had a tapedeck or CD player (and later iPod or smartphone) that could be stolen, making you a more attractive target, as well as one that was easy to sneak up on.
What do I do instead? Listen to the birds sing. Listen to snow or leaves crunch underfoot. Sing! Read a book. Skip! Admire the sun through the trees. Look for cool bugs. Have a conversation with a friend. Rehearse a future conversation in my head. Solve math problems. Philosophize.
When I was a youth, walking with headphones or earbuds meant you had a tapedeck or CD player (and later iPod or smartphone) that could be stolen, making you a more attractive target, as well as one that was easy to sneak up on.
I started off with a cheapo MP3 player, then a PSP as a kid, now it’s just my phone.
don’t use earphones outside because it’s unsafe: Awareness of surroundings is paramount.
No offense, I get it bad things happen but where tf y’all live that this is something you even need to worry about? I’m not getting mugged in broad daylight in a city centre wtf.
What do I do instead? Listen to the birds sing. Listen to snow or leaves crunch underfoot. Sing! Read a book. Skip! Admire the sun through the trees. Look for cool bugs. Have a conversation with a friend. Rehearse a future conversation in my head. Solve math problems. Philosophize.
Yeah I’m not talking about a hike, I’m talking about walking to the grocery store. If I saw someone skipping and singing randomly on the pavement I’d probably ask them if they were alright and maybe call the services.
I obviously can’t teleport my friends or S.O. to me every time I go to the store.
The rest of those I do just fine, while also listening to music. Idk how many times you can listen to “leaves crunch underfoot” before it gets a little stale.
I’m not getting mugged in broad daylight in a city centre wtf.
My life may involve a lot less broad daylight than yours, but I’m not just talking about muggings, which are rare in Chicago. Bad drivers are a much more prevalent concern.
If I saw someone skipping and singing randomly on the pavement I’d probably ask them if they were alright and maybe call the services.
That’s just rude.
Bad drivers
That’s crazy. I had no idea it’s that bad in America.
Honestly in my 27 years on this earth I have never actually first party witnessed anyone run a red light or anything like that. Seen plenty of crashes along the roads and been witness to a bus driver that decided to off-road around traffic and almost flew into a ditch once as a kid with me and mom in it.
Otherwise I just don’t see them as a concern though.
That’s just rude.
No it is not. Someone having a mental health event/crisis might actually appreciate you reaching out to them, and to me that would be an indicator of such behaviour. It is not normal behaviour, which can be a sign of some sort of delusion or a psychotic break from reality someone is experiencing.
Not always, of course, just plain oddball people exist, but if I saw a fully grown ass adult SINGING OUT LOUD or SKIPPING down a fucking sidewalk I’d definitely pay attention and keep my distance and my hands around my valuables.
Don’t tell this person about the times before the ubiquity of iPods (and later, phones).
OP, might I suggest a “music” detox? Spend a month without the need for headphone delivered dopamine.
Why would I ever do a “music” detox? Why is “music” in quotes? What else would I be listening to?
And what would I do such a thing for?
Turn my grocery shopping into a drag instead of a moment to enjoy and kind of a highlight of the day at times?
If listening to birds chirping and wind blowing through trees while you’re out for a walk is “no stimuli” you have a problem.
Then so does most everyone. It’s one thing to be “out for a walk” with the purpose of a walk, like in the forest or a park, but it’s a whole other thing to be walking for groceries and day after day just zoning out into the same things over and over. That’s insanity.
That’s, erm, life m8.
I’m sorry for you if that’s what life is to you, it’s no wonder mental health issues are common amongst folks these days, the dead eyes and blank stares drooling off into nothingness, eyes wide open, yet seeing nothing, “living in the moment”, yet feeling dead inside. I pity you, little man.
The world is there to be discovered, you just need agency to go and get it, everything is literally at your fingertips, arts, history, geography, literature, science, philosophy, film, games etc.
Music is one way to engage with the arts even while your other senses must be occupied with the chores on procurement of resources that our meat shells sadly require for the foreseeable future due to lack of advances in technology on that front.
But the good news is, It’s why we as a species invented entertainment at all.
Part of the world is the outside, without external stimulus of music or a screen.
I can consume all those things without music playing steadily in my ears, and I would venture to say I prefer to enjoy arts, history, geography, literature, science, philosophy, film, games etc. without steady noise being pumped into my skull. Sometimes I do it while conversing with another person or several people.
At other times, I can listen to music. But I don’t complain that life has lost its lustre because my phone can’t play my music!
If you find lustre in grocery trips, I’m sorry for you.
I play music in my mind.
If I’m walking around a park, I may wear earphones. If I’m walking on sidewalks around the city, I’m way too paranoid. I like to be able to hear my surroundings. Case in point, I was crossing a street at a crosswalk with the walk signal active when I was nearly hit by a car; the driver was clearly distracted and ran the red light. The only reason I wasn’t hit was because I heard the car coming and I stopped in the middle of the crosswalk to avoid getting hit. If I had kept going at my pace, I for sure would have been hit.
Jesus, glad you’re okay! I try my best to look both ways but honestly I’ve just kinda made peace that I’ll be hit by a car at some point, I’ve had plenty of near misses before because ADHD etc. where I just forgot I was on a road crossing because I was daydreaming about trilobites or some shit.
