The hill I will die on: Remove those earphones – you’re blocking out the music of humanity

Why I’m Asking You to Remove Your Earphones: A Case for Human Connection

Wanderstayfinder.com – Excuse me. I’m sorry to interrupt, but could you possibly remove those earphones for just a moment? I’ve always considered myself someone who accepts others’ habits without complaint. I’m patient, considerate, and generally easygoing. Yet lately, my tolerance is being stretched to its absolute limit by what feels like an epidemic of people wearing earphones everywhere they go.

It seems the outside world must be completely shut out. Those wearing earphones appear to believe they have nothing to learn or gain by engaging with anyone around them. They would much rather exist in their own private universe, immersed in music, podcasts, or perhaps a somewhat one-sided conversation on their phone that only they can hear.

The Lost Art of Being Present

Here is my position, and I will defend it to the death: there exists a fascinating and beautiful world beyond our personal bubbles. It is filled with conversation, laughter, and the genuine possibility of making new friends and acquaintances. Yet instead of participating in all of that, people prefer to plug in their earphones, tune into their own world, and drop out of reality.

This phenomenon appears to be twenty-first-century evidence of Blaise Pascal’s belief that the inability to sit quietly in a room alone is the source of all human problems. There must be constant, piped-in noise. Silence has become the enemy.

Perhaps this represents another consequence of the pandemic lockdowns. We became accustomed to being on our own, working from home with earphones in, to spare flatmates or family members from the distraction of other conversations. Back in the workplace, the earphones have simply stayed in place.

Workplace Implications

Maybe this helps with concentration, serving as a protest against the enforced intimacy of the open-plan office. But it makes life considerably harder for colleagues who may want to ask a quick question, or for a benign boss—other types of boss certainly exist—to show some interest in you when they are managing by walking around.

Imagine if, two centuries earlier, William Wordsworth had wandered lonely with his AirPods in his ears. Would he have ever heard the still, sad music of humanity, not harsh nor grating, though of ample power to chasten and subdue?

Would he have ever heard the “still, sad music of humanity, / Not harsh nor grating, though of ample power / To chasten and subdue”?

Of course, it is polite on the bus or the train to stick the earphones in and avoid creating noise pollution. People who are neurodivergent may want to block some things out. But personally, I usually enjoy listening to the conversations you can hear, in a range of languages, on public transport.

I know that Nigel Farage objects to that sort of thing, but the rest of us don’t have to. I say: take the earphones out, lend me and everyone else your ears, and enjoy the world around you. Choose real life. At the very least, staying alert could save you from getting run over, or mugged.

And, you know, if there weren’t so many of these earphones permanently on display, then maybe people would stop launching so many podcasts.

I make an exception for the new audio version of my latest book, you’re allowed to listen to that.

Stefan Stern is co-author of Myths of Management and the former director of the High Pay Centre. His latest book is Fair or Foul: The Lady Macbeth Guide to Ambition