Hearing You, Not Listening

Photo by Gary Meulemans on Unsplash

Author’s Note: This is a feature story, I wrote for a Media Writing class. This is one of the first feature stories I wrote in my writing journey.

When talking to someone and it is clear they are not listening, that stinks. Talking to someone who is not listening because they have earbuds in? According to most people that is arguably worse, but there are a few who believe it is suitable.

You can now take calls, virtual meetings, podcasts, noise cancellation, and even track health data using earbuds. There are now features that allow you to place your headphones on “transparency mode” allowing users to tune in on conversations and focus only on people’s voices. Despite these new features and accommodating adaptations, the question that must be addressed is: When does wearing headphones in conversation cross the line from acceptable to rude?

The Pew Research center endeavored to address this question of “rudeness” and how it can be defined by individuals. Even statistics can be inaccurate to individuals, some might have a different opinion to what their age demographic has placed them in.

Statistics are split into age demographics in order to receive more accurate data that is organized accordingly. The segment starts at eighteen and goes up to ages sixty-five and older. Beginning with younger ages, like 18 and ending with older ages, 65+. The statistics can be different for everyone but similarities in real life examples still stand. In order to test these different statistics, two interviews were conducted, one with an 18-year-old girl and the other being a 48-year-old woman.

Starting off with the younger demographic, Samantha Stanfer is an 18-year-old girl. She had said that wearing earphones while talking to someone isn’t a big deal and it should not be exaggerated. She brought up the new features that airpods have that allow you to be an active listener while not taking the earbuds out “I don’t see the problem with it,” she states. When asked if keeping one earbud in while ordering food or talking to a cashier is considered rude; she said, “Not necessarily, I don’t think so, because if you can still hear them, then I don’t see what the issue is. It’s not like, oh, you have music blasting so loud, even in like one earphone, that you don’t understand what they’re saying, and they keep on having to repeat themselves, even though it’s like a simple fix.”

Next, Cathy Rodman, 48, considers wearing headphones while talking to people undoubtedly rude, “When you talk in person, you take them off or remove them, obviously.”

After that general statement, she was asked if she believes different generations view this subject differently. “Her response to that was, “Yeah, probably all older people don’t understand the meaning of earbuds or earphones in general.”

Neither of these people are wrong and it is clear that earbuds are not the problem here, people are.