Does the Pervasive Use of Personal Sound Devices Necessarily Point to an Increasing Disconnection from Urban Public Life?

Note: This Essay was written as part of my BA in Journalism and Media (2014–17) at Birkbeck, University of London, for the Module of The Mediated City.

Introduction

This assignment attempts to address the pre-set question: “Does the pervasive use of personal sound devices necessarily point to an increasing disconnection from urban public life?”.

The following essay is divided into four sections (not considering both introduction, and conclusion respectfully). The first section (‘The definition of noise, and the socio-historical context of the contemporary urban soundscape’), aims at defining the concept of ‘noise’, alongside with the contemporary socio-historical development of the urban soundscape — which, for the sake of word count and argument, is focused on the broad development of events rather than specific chronology. The second section (‘“Blasé Attitude”: the apathetic management of over-stimuli’), concerns itself with a compact definition of what Georg Simmel’s “Blasé Attitude” (Simmel 14:1903) encompasses. The third section (‘Personal Sound Devices as Cultural Interfaces’), focuses on the conceptual description of “Cultural Interfaces” (e Silva et al. 3:2012), whilst bridging its relation to personal sound devices. Finally, the fourth section (“Does the pervasive use of personal sound devices necessarily point to an increasing disconnection from urban public life?”), strives to answer the subject matter of the essay .

The first three sections will serve as the theoretical/conceptual pillars of the main argument; Which attempts to demonstrate the presence of personal sound devices (within urban public life) as part of a processual social practice, that emerged as a logical response to a development of events related to urban (sonic) environmental modifications, and social reconstructions.

For narrative purposes, the term ‘personal sound device’ will also be addressed as ‘PSD’, Walkman, or iPod.

The definition of noise, and the socio-historical context of the contemporary urban soundscape

Noise is an omnipresent concept of contemporary urban life, in which — at a certain time or another — one finds oneself disturbed, or uncomfortable by such pervasive sonic intrusions that creep in, to discommode a task, routine or unwinding part of the day. Bailey defines noise as being “a broad yet imprecise category of sounds that register variously as excessive, incoherent, confused, inarticulate or degenerate” (Bailey 50:1996). This simultaneously vague and accurate definition, also reflects the relativity of what might constitute noise, depending on a plurality of circumstantial, social and practical factors — or as Bailey simply states: “Noise that is nuisance to some may be a resource and a delight to others” (Bailey 50:1996).

One can easily imagine that, a conversation will rapidly lose its status of being a ‘delight’, if such a dialogue (of which we are not actively participating in) is held among a group of strangers, and they are holding it in a language that is foreign to us; This hypothetical scenario, would be increasingly aggravated, if we further imagine ourselves trying to read a book next to such a group. In this case, it becomes easy to understand how such a familiar sound (the human voice), can become a ‘nuisance’.

There are two important milestones in contemporary history, that marked the transformation of urban soundscapes (by further introducing noise as an integral part of everyday life): the Industrial Revolution, and the emergence of the internal combustion engine.

The first marks the primordial era of mass production, which started to re-shape the economy, and consequently resulted in the downgrading of agriculture (and other related occupations), leading “agricultural workers [to be] disfranchised and sent to the cities to seek work in the factories” (Schafer 72:1977). This internal migration, — or Rural Exodus, as it is usually coined in history books — was relevant to shape the urban soundscape, because unprecedented influxes of people started to settle in specific areas. These drastic geo-demographic changes, gave place to new forms of social conducts, such as gatherings in “recreational facilities (…) [which] became centres of much greater noise and rowdiness” (Schafer 72:1977); A type of communal behaviour, that still prevails nowadays, in ‘noisy’ places like pubs, or ‘clubs’.

In addition to the somewhat loud and new social practices, the rise of industrialism also marked a decline in the dominance of natural organic sounds within the soundscape (e.g. birds singing, wind blowing, river flowing, among many others). Such sounds, were gradually “being lost under the combined jamming of industrial and domestic machinery” (Schafer 84:1977), such as “the different roars of railroad stations, iron foundries, textile mills, printing houses, power plants and subways.” (Russolo 7:1913).

Despite the wide chronological gap, between the Industrial Revolution, and the appearance of the internal combustion engine; Such development, cannot go unmentioned in relation to the automobile’s appearance, and its major established popularity in the 1970’s, a decade in which “the United States was producing more automobiles annually than babies” (Schafer 83:1977).

The reason behind this reference is quite an obvious one, for it seems nearly impossible to picture any modern metropolis’ soundscape, without the constant roaring of the internal combustion engines of automobiles, buses, motorcycles, and other motorised vehicles.

“Blasé Attitude”: the apathetic management of over-stimuli

The previous section served to give a, fairly broad, historical context of the significant events that led to the gradual (but nonetheless impactful) change within the soundscape. The combination between the industrial rise of machinery, internal combustion engines, and the unprecedented increase of human populations settling within specific sites (cities), formed the blueprints for the contemporary sounds and/or noises of the urban soundscape. In other words, these practical events helped to shape the involving sounds of metropolitan areas.

In this section, the focus is shifted to the sociological aspect of such phenomenons, more specifically, towards how the occupants of urban spaces, learned to manage their surroundings. The capitalist setting of the post-industrialist era brought vibrant urban capitals to life, filled with crowded streets, consumerist attitudes (directly connected to advertising), and an overall ubiquitous appeal to people’s basic four senses (sight, smell, touch, and of course, hearing) — wether due to commercial purposes, or just because of the crowded and anonymous social settings encountered all around.

Although some of the practices (specially within the advertisement realm), have changed over the years, there are basic pervasive smells, sights, touches (e.g. the occasional bump in the street or crowded tube stations, among others), and sounds common to every urban centre.

According to Georg Simmel, this juxtaposition of stimuli posed a challenge to our mental/emotional faculties, in the sense that it would be detrimental to our healthy existence, to have to attend individually and profoundly to every single exterior (environmental) demand for attention. The metropolis, according to Simmel, “creates in the sensory foundations of mental life (…) a deep contrast with the slower, more habitual, more smoothly flowing rhythm of the sensory-mental phase of small town and rural existence” (Simmel 12:1903). Therefore, in order to manage “the impact of a continuous stream of various stimuli (…) the individual [is driven] into a posture of self-protection” (Weinstein et a. 347:1990), an attitude towards society, which Simmel coined as being “blasé” (Simmel 14:1903).

The “blasé attitude” is described by Simmel as being similar to a protective form of self-induced apathy. A reaction towards the urban setting of daily life (and all it entails), where the human brain experiences an “adaptive phenomenon (…) in which the nerves reveal their final possibility of adjusting themselves to the content and the form of metropolitan life by renouncing the response to them” (Simmel 14:1903).

Personal Sound Devices (PSDs) as ‘Cultural Interfaces’

The concept of interface, is usually tied with assumptions related to technological realms (specially in relation to computing/informatics). Despite such assumptions the term has been expanded to other areas of study. As Gane and Beer pointed out, a media interface is a tool that “enables and mediates informational power structures, restructures everyday practices in a myriad of ways, and transforms relations between bodies and their environments” (Gane et al. 65:2008).

This can be related to PSD’s capabilities as portable soundscapes, via their ability to place a new (sonic) layer of information, over the ‘natural soundscape’ — while moving through urban space. They also alter the ways in which that urban space is perceived, by replacing/distorting its soundscape while simultaneously impacting other socio-environmental practices that arise from listening to these devices in the midst of other people and places, which themselves form the fabric of the urban public life.

To reinforce the concept of interfaces acting as intermediaries, — between their users and the broader socio-cultural environments — e Silva and Thrift, further suggest the notion of the “cultural interface”. A concept, aimed at consolidating the fact “that material devices are not only mediators between a person and a machine, but, most importantly, they are also filters for culture, defining and influencing how people interact with the world around them” (e Silva et al. 3:2012).

The following section explores more thoroughly the intricacies involved in the usage of PSDs in urban public arenas, in direct correlation to their potential (or impotence) to further foment a ‘disconnection’ from urban public life.

“Does the pervasive use of personal sound devices necessarily point to an increasing disconnection from urban public life?”

The most influential preliminary studies on personal sound devices were mainly focused on Sony’s Walkman, and how it impacted users’ lives — although, the pillars established in such works laid the groundwork for other other types of PSDs, such as the iPod.

Michael Bull, is is often quoted on his work in the field of personal sound devices. When analysing one of his studies on the Walkman (Bull 2008) it is inevitable not to notice the considerable emotional connection listeners have with their music, especially in relation to their immediate environments, where the ultimate role of PSDs is to perform a continual “maintenance of mood” (Bull 19:2008); Hence, allowing listeners to access the ‘right’ feelings (or state of mind), according to their location, social scenario, or time of the day (e.g. work, commuting, or morning). Bull’s main perspective, in a very abridged way, focuses on the premise that when people retreat to their own ‘sound worlds’, and shut off the organic “aural ecology of the city” (Atkinson 2:2006), they become completely isolated from active interactions with the broader urban space (socially, and, to some extent, physically), by stepping into “an invisible shell within which the boundaries of both cognitive and physical space become reformulated” (Bull 22:2008).

Building on Bull’s work, David Beer further suggested that, instead of being withdrawn from their urban environments, PSD users were still actively connected to their surroundings, despite the sonic information overlay, facilitated by the devices in question. In opposition to the general idea that users were capable of isolating themselves via personalised soundtracks, Beer came forward with the term “Tuning Out” (Beer 858:2007), which focused on the concept of “users creating for themselves a distraction from the aural ecology without ever really escaping or removing themselves from the urban context” (Beer 858:2007 ).

This behavioural conduct of “social distancing (…) rather than social withdrawal” (Beer 858:2007 ) resonates with the ‘blasé attitude’ described earlier. In which the PSD user makes a conscious decision to prioritise certain sounds that are appealing to him/her, as a way of deliberately ignoring the sonic stimuli of the metropolis — which may fall into the category of ‘noise’ (as described in the first section). Simmel’s ‘blasé attitude’, is therefore presented as a form of cognitive defence mechanism, which was — and still is — developed systematically in response to the evolution of physical, and social urban settings. As the industrialist era progressed, so did people’s methods of coping with its effects, wether through social conventions (such as the ‘blasé attitude), or through ‘tools’ that aided the implementation of such conventions (the earlier mentioned, ‘cultural interfaces’).

One of the first (if not the first) adaptations of a ‘cultural interface’ in relation to shifting social conventions was among urban railroad commuters, to whom “the face-to-face [seating] arrangement (…) became unbearable because there no longer was a reason for such communication” (Schivelbusch 74:1986 ). Due to the need to alleviate such an unpleasant social scenario, those involved in commuting, adopted the book as a ‘cultural interface’. Books (and other sources of reading material, such as newspapers) aided travellers to dissociate their field of vision from the immediate social setting, in “an attempt to replace the conversation that is no longer possible” (Schivelbusch 75:1986 ), and thus, allowing for the reader to remain integrated within its physical (and social) space, while simultaneously (through the individualistic act of reading), reducing communal discomfort — hence, promoting social cohesion. The book, in this case, fulfilled the purpose of an intermediary device that aided its user to interact with social, cultural, and physical surroundings more efficiently.

Taking into account the broader context under which the book was introduced into public life, such concept can be paralleled with the introduction of PSDs within urban public life; The only difference being which sensorial component of the human body is being equipped (hearing instead of sight).

Marshal McLuhan is often quoted saying that “the ear favours no particular point of view. We are simply not equipped with earlids” (McLuhan et al. 111:2001) — This obvious assertion (from an anatomical standpoint) further consolidates PSDs function in relation to the ‘blasé attitude’. When we compare our biological capabilities to filter out external stimuli, sight offers a larger array of ‘escape routes’ (e.g. divert our attention, shut our eyes, etc.), then hearing. With that in mind it seems logical that a solution in the form of a ‘cultural interface’ would emerge to further assist the preservation of our cognitive and emotional stability, while navigating the over-stimulant realm that is urban public life. Therefore, and similarly to the book’s use as a practical tool for avoiding an awkward exchange of visual scrutiny during a silent journey, PSDs were put to practice in order to avoid similar uncomfortable situations.

A practical example would be to picture oneself among any major street of London where there are usually people organising petitions (on behalf of charities), those individuals usually approach pedestrians by attempting to engage in a conversation; this kind of social interaction is usually undesired, and further aggravated, if those pedestrians are attempting to reach a particular scheduled destination (e.g. work). This is just one of many examples that can portray an unwanted urban interaction, in which a PSD “may discourage it from being instigated”, although, the “the earphones do not stop it from occurring” (Beer 858:2007).

Another important perspective to consider is focused on the headphone’s inability to effectively create an impenetrable ‘sound bubble’ for the user to retreat back into. The quotidian sounds produced within the urban realm can be quite overpowering regardless of the PSD’s volume (decibels) capacity, and our self-manufactured “‘bubble’ is often burst by heavy or noisy traffic, alarms, shouting, doors slamming, car horns, dogs barking, construction work, louder music, muzak, sirens, the list goes on.” (Beer 859:2007).

These ‘attacks’ on the listener’s attempts to ‘tune out’ the immediate surroundings are a constant reminder that one can never be absolutely removed from the ubiquitous elements that integrate urban public life. From a social standpoint, the usage of PSDs — and their sonic permeability –, further consolidates their function as an enabling tool for “civil inattention” (e Silva et al. 70:2012 ), rather than ‘civil disengagement’.

Considering the contextual framework, presented throughout the essay, what constitutes the ‘urban public life’ can be extended beyond direct conversational communication; in other words: just because “people are not actively talking while co-present does not mean that they are disconnected from that space, or that there is no interaction with it” (e Silva et al. 63:2012 ).

In the case of PSDs this means that there was a consequential development of events (as demonstrated in the socio-historical framework), that led to the adaptation of new tools (the above mentioned ‘cultural interfaces’), to be put at the service of contemporary social conducts (the ‘blasé attitude’). This assignment could be interpreted as a sociological (and over-simplistic) adaptation to “Newton’s third law of motion” (Lenzen 258:1937), in which every action (mutations within the urban soundscape), caused a reaction (the emergence, and usage of personal sound devices).

Conclusion

This essay strived to critically analyse wether the use of personal sound devices necessarily (italic emphasis intended) pointed to an increasing disconnection from urban public life.

The argument was constructed through the definition of what constitutes noise, the provision of relevant socio-historical background on the evolution of contemporary soundscapes, relatable theoretical background (Simmel’s “Blasé Attitude”), and the categorisation of PSDs as ‘cultural interfaces’.

Framing the intended question under such lens provided an alternative (and rather more complex) approach to the essay. Here the so-called ‘disconnection’ from urban public life is seen as a byproduct of the augmentation of external stimuli that contemporary urban life imposes, in contrast to the quieter/calmer (and more biologically manageable) lifestyle offered by non-urban environments.

This type of behaviour is not exclusive to PSDs, a claim reinforced by the recurrent comparison, between personal sound devices and the primordial (and currently normalised) use of books in public settings as a way to engage with the broader (social and physical) environment.

Employing Simmel’s “Blasé Attitude”, helped to steer the question away from a fundamentalist argumentation that would, eventually, lead to a ‘yes or no’ type of answer.

Analysing the subject matter from such a perspective unveiled a consequential development of events as being the triggers behind new forms of urban social interaction, in opposition to a gradual dismantlement of vital and established social norms.

This essay reflects with increased complexity, the simplicity of the English proverb: “ necessity is the mother of invention” (Cambridge University Press 2016). In which, the necessity to manage the sounds of urban quotidian reality, made possible for personal sound devices to be introduced (and somewhat established) within public life.

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