I.P.O.D (Idiots Playing Obnoxious Demos)

       We’ve all heard it. That incessant, incoherent almost-music emanating from a stranger’s headphones. To a certain extent, I understand the need for loud music. After all, music is an expression. It is a way to relax and unwind. However, can we relax and unwind without annoying others? Sure, you might not be bothered by the loud music, but when I’m relaxing or talking to friends I don’t want to hear your gangsta rap. I’m sure you have excellent taste in music (unless you are listening to dubstep, but that’s a whole different topic), but everyone has his/her own music that he/she would appreciate being able to listen to without interference.
  
I have an issue. I'm odd. I hate hearing the earsore that is the muffled static of other people's music. Why?

• Listening to music this loudly can damage your ears
• Listening to music past normal volume is painful
• Listening to music loud enough for others to hear defeats the personal aspect of ipods

                Perhaps I’m biased. I have learned a lot about how loud noises damage your hearing. Personally, I don’t listen to my music any louder than half volume. If I’m being perfectly honest, loud noises hurt my ears which is why I can’t understand the need to blast music from headphones that are so close to your ears. I can almost feel your eardrums shattering like glass. You may laugh, but our eardrums are very fragile. When my eardrums vibrate that much, it's like a bomb going off in my ear canals. It is physically painful. However, after an eardrum ruptures it heals. More worrisome is the fear of permanently damaging your hearing.  Inside your ear there are tiny hairs surrounding your cochlea. These ears pick up sound vibrations and give you the ability to hear. Loud noises, such as the music blaring from your earbuds, can damage those hairs and cause them to fall off. Once these hairs are gone, they are gone forever. Loss of these hairs is the main reason for deafness in otherwise healthy people. So when I tell you to turn your music down, it is not for my comfort, it’s for yours.

               

      Okay, maybe it is for my comfort too. I can’t stand hearing other people’s music. The thought of how loud your music must be for me to hear it across a noisy bus makes me cringe. Why is this a trend? Who decided that blasting your ears out was cool? Unless hearing aids are a new fashion statement that I don’t know about, you probably shouldn't listen to music right next to your ears that is loud enough for a small concert.

Perhaps this disturbing trend is alluding to the “If it’s too loud, you’re too old” mantra. Other than the obvious reasons, why is this a young person’s idea? Do older people have more caution when it comes to their hearing? Older people generally have lower hearing than younger people. Perhaps because of their limited hearing, older people treasure the hearing that they still have. Either way, maybe they’re right. After all, with age comes wisdom.

It appears that I have strayed from my original point. I mostly believe that ones music should be kept to oneself. After all, ipods, mp3 players, Zunes, and any personal music devices you can think of are popular because you can listen to your own music. They are PERSONAL music devices. For goodness sake, I neither need nor want to listen to your hip hop blaring out of your earbuds . I have MY music. Perhaps it would be different if I could really enjoy your music. But that’s what speakers are for. When you have your music too loud and I hear it, I can’t enjoy the song. I only hear a loud, muffled static. Just hearing somebody else’s music is like a torture technique for me. I understand that this is a weird pet peeve to have, but it is just something that really drives me crazy. Not only is listening to your music so loud that I can hear it across a room annoying for me, it is harmful for you and could cause problems later in life.