The ubiquitous earphone

Our astronomer visited the exercise room last night, as is his regular habit.  This time there were several other people there.  How one of them went about his workout routine prompted some thought and some speculation about the importance of the earphone to modern society, as well as underlining the differences between people.

Our astronomer writes:

As I was going about my business of push-ups and the like, one of my neighbors came in to use the treadmill.  He turned on the TV just in front, which I find mildly annoying but by the etiquette of the workout room he was quite within his rights.  Then he brought out his smart phone and inserted its earbuds into his ears.  He was listening to something on his phone while apparently watching, but not listening to, the TV.

I can quite understand the need for some diversion while on the treadmill (there are reasons why it’s an overused metaphor!), as in other situations.  Some people get bored running in place anyway and go outside; some people get bored even running outside and must find other forms of exercise.  Some people will only work out with a group, some only with a friend, some only alone; motivations vary.  That’s not the point here.  He had set up an extra source of noise to insure against–what?  The prospect of quiet?

Well, this is normal nowadays.  Apart from the fact that everyone I see outside is connected to a smartphone, most people have the TV or radio on all the time in their homes.  They normally aren’t paying attention; it’s only background noise.  To a large degree it’s just because it’s what people are used to.  After I’d spent months aboard ship, I found it eerie to go ashore and try to get to sleep without the background noise of machinery.

But there’s something more happening here.  Last year a paper appeared in Science (one of the most prestigious of the serious scientific journals) reporting a study done on students at a certain university.  Given a choice between just sitting and thinking for fifteen minutes, and giving themselves electric shocks, all of them opted for the shocks.  I suspect it’s part of the same thing: in modern society, most people get very uncomfortable without distractions.

To be so widespread, this tendency must have been around well before electronics.  But it could only be indulged fully with the appearance of automatic, and then portable, distractions.

I am not criticizing; I am not saying that most people are frivolous or incapable of concentrated thought.  But as someone who welcomes the opportunity to think without distraction, I want to understand people who work differently.