Personal Stereo

I thought that the writing on the personal stereo was interesting because most of the writing was talking about walkmans. Since the day of the walkman, the personal stereo has changed and evolved quite a bit. They have changed in terms of size, shape, and capacity to hold music. They have gone from tape, to cd, to mp3. Somehow, in light of all the changes, the usage and the way people seem to escape into them seems to remain the same.

I thought that there were a variety of interesting points that emerged from this piece. I had already known that people often chose their music based on their mood, there are a diverse group of users, and personal stereos often help people “get going” in their day or with exercise, etc. What I found interesting was The idea that the music that someone is listening to can change their relationship to the environment around them. Once I read this, however, it made perfect sense. Music does have a large impact on how I feel, and I don’t see any reason why the music that I am listening to wouldn’t have the same effect on how I feel about where I am when I am listening to it. I also found that idea of a dysfunctional environment based on incorrect music to be interesting. This too makes sense. If the music I am listening to doesn’t match my mood or my surroundings, I do see that causing a confusion of feelings.

I have been known to listen to my music loud. I have also found myself listening to a song repeatedly until I become tired of it. I never took much more notice of this than the fact that I did it. I thought that it was very interesting when I read that one possible reason that people listen to music on repeat is so that they can remain static within the flow of time and place. I had never thought about it this way, but looking back on the days that I did this, I had remained stuck in my thought/mood until the music changed. I also thought I just liked loud music, but thinking about it in the sense that the volume drowns out other sounds that could be mood altering also makes a lot of sense. I was relieved to know that I am not the only person that had gotten lost in the music and arrived at a destination without quite remembering how they got there.

I thought that the idea that before the train was invented people never had a reason to stare at one another for longer than a few minutes much less hours was intriguing. I know that eye contact with strangers often makes people uncomfortable. I thought that it was interesting that it is easier for some people to make eye contact when listening to a personal stereo, because they are listening to someone else. The idea that listening to yet another stranger could make it easier to engage in what I see as a personal act easier was very interesting and a little unnerving to me.