6 ms·

I hate those high pitched buzzers for teenagers. I'm in my 20s and can still hear them.

by timlyo 10y ago

lorenzhs 10y ago
I was in New York recently and the Franklin Av Shuttle subway station seemed to have these devices throughout the station (entry hall, stairs and platform were all covered). Also in my 20s and I could hear them clearly - the frequency was changing between several very annoying ones, all in the extremely high pitched spectrum (17.5-20kHz, from what I read online). By the time the train arrived I was really glad to get out of there, it made my head hurt quite a bit. It was an awful experience. Apparently the MTA decided that royally annoying young customers was less important than preventing loitering kids.
cowpewter 10y ago
I'm 36 and I can still hear them. Thankfully, they aren't very common in my area.
guard-of-terra 10y ago
To me, "buzzers for teenagers" is an extremelly unsettling slash dehumanizing idea. I thought it's a proof of concept, I can't imagine how anybody will actually install one of these. It's totally like installing a bump in your door frame so any people with disability will have difficulty passing. We're not wanting any limp lamers to destroy our healthy mood inside, do we? One day people who embraced this kind of thing will be old and helpless, and "teenagers" will held all posts. Just sayin'.
- Crespyl 10y ago
  > unsettling slash dehumanizing As a tangent, it is fascinating to me that you would write out the "slash" instead of using the single character symbol. Watching the evolution of the thing-a/thing-b construct from a shorthand used almost exclusively in online text, to something used in spoken conversation to explicitly convey a mix of several ideas has been really interesting. I wonder if there are examples of this pre-internet, or a similar construct that has now fallen out of style?
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  > I can't imagine how anybody will actually install one of these. // You run a shop, a convenience store. Until recently you were making a living for you and your family but a group of teenagers have taken to hanging out outside your store. They do petty criminal damage, graffiti, break the bins, that kinda thing. What's more troubling is that they verbally abuse your clientelle and provide a hostile environment. Your clients stop coming because they're intimidated, rightly or wrongly, by this crowd of teenagers: they don't want to be asked to buy alcohol, and jeered at if they refuse, just to get a pint of milk and some bread or get their morning papers. You call the police, who send someone a few hours after the teenagers have left, or on occasions clear them away; but they just come back. Installing a "Mosquito" high-pitch noise generator means that the teenagers will be put off congregating here, they'll meet perhaps at the park over the road, or go to the skate park, or meet at each other's houses, or ... the harm they'll suffer is extremely limited. The benefit is now that the community can again use the store in a relaxed way, you can now make a living again. The teenagers end up playing football or skating or something, not intimidating people trying to use a convenience store at least. Some people perhaps complain about the noise, but once inside it doesn't affect them, it's a minor inconvenience as they enter the store. Can you really not see the benefit nor imagine someone using such a device?
  - lorenzhs 10y ago
    Personally I would stop going to a store that installed them, as I find them highly unpleasant and the concept anti-social.
  - guard-of-terra 10y ago
    > Installing a "Mosquito" high-pitch noise generator means that the teenagers will be put off congregating here So here you're installing a mosquito device outside of your venue? A device that produces constant noize pollution in a common street? I can surely see how somebody should complain to police, and they surely should confiscate that device and write you a fine. It's strange if that would not happen. Also: > ...a group of teenagers have taken to hanging out outside your store... There's some kind of weird narrative here, because I've never heard things like this happening where I live. Not once. > The teenagers end up playing football or skating or something, not intimidating people Why won't they do that in a first place? If they also enjoy destroying bins and drawing gravity they can surely do that in ten minutes or so, doing all the damage and avoiding too much nuisance from your device? I can't imagine teenagers hanging in one place all the time, won't that be extremelly boring?
- timonovici 10y ago
  > One day people who embraced this kind of thing will be old and helpless, and "teenagers" will held all posts. Just sayin'. By then they will be molded by the system to act the same way, or they will be in a position where the unpleasant design will seem desirable to them, so don't get your hopes too high.
  - guard-of-terra 10y ago
    Maybe; but they will also have no reservations against cutting access for older generation because they were taught it's okay to do. So such people better prepare to an extremely unpleasant late life.

I hate those high pitched buzzers for teenagers. I'm in my 20s and can still hear them.

by timlyo 10y ago

I hate those high pitched buzzers for teenagers. I'm in my 20s and can still hear them.

I was in New York recently and the Franklin Av Shuttle subway station seemed to have these devices throughout the station (entry hall, stairs and platform were all covered). Also in my 20s and I could hear them clearly - the frequency was changing between several very annoying ones, all in the extremely high pitched spectrum (17.5-20kHz, from what I read online). By the time the train arrived I was really glad to get out of there, it made my head hurt quite a bit. It was an awful experience. Apparently the MTA decided that royally annoying young customers was less important than preventing loitering kids.

cowpewter 10y ago

I'm 36 and I can still hear them. Thankfully, they aren't very common in my area.

guard-of-terra 10y ago

To me, "buzzers for teenagers" is an extremelly unsettling slash dehumanizing idea. I thought it's a proof of concept, I can't imagine how anybody will actually install one of these. It's totally like installing a bump in your door frame so any people with disability will have difficulty passing. We're not wanting any limp lamers to destroy our healthy mood inside, do we? One day people who embraced this kind of thing will be old and helpless, and "teenagers" will held all posts. Just sayin'.

Crespyl 10y ago
> unsettling slash dehumanizing As a tangent, it is fascinating to me that you would write out the "slash" instead of using the single character symbol. Watching the evolution of the thing-a/thing-b construct from a shorthand used almost exclusively in online text, to something used in spoken conversation to explicitly convey a mix of several ideas has been really interesting. I wonder if there are examples of this pre-internet, or a similar construct that has now fallen out of style?
pbhjpbhj 10y ago
> I can't imagine how anybody will actually install one of these. // You run a shop, a convenience store. Until recently you were making a living for you and your family but a group of teenagers have taken to hanging out outside your store. They do petty criminal damage, graffiti, break the bins, that kinda thing. What's more troubling is that they verbally abuse your clientelle and provide a hostile environment. Your clients stop coming because they're intimidated, rightly or wrongly, by this crowd of teenagers: they don't want to be asked to buy alcohol, and jeered at if they refuse, just to get a pint of milk and some bread or get their morning papers. You call the police, who send someone a few hours after the teenagers have left, or on occasions clear them away; but they just come back. Installing a "Mosquito" high-pitch noise generator means that the teenagers will be put off congregating here, they'll meet perhaps at the park over the road, or go to the skate park, or meet at each other's houses, or ... the harm they'll suffer is extremely limited. The benefit is now that the community can again use the store in a relaxed way, you can now make a living again. The teenagers end up playing football or skating or something, not intimidating people trying to use a convenience store at least. Some people perhaps complain about the noise, but once inside it doesn't affect them, it's a minor inconvenience as they enter the store. Can you really not see the benefit nor imagine someone using such a device?
- lorenzhs 10y ago
  Personally I would stop going to a store that installed them, as I find them highly unpleasant and the concept anti-social.
- guard-of-terra 10y ago
  > Installing a "Mosquito" high-pitch noise generator means that the teenagers will be put off congregating here So here you're installing a mosquito device outside of your venue? A device that produces constant noize pollution in a common street? I can surely see how somebody should complain to police, and they surely should confiscate that device and write you a fine. It's strange if that would not happen. Also: > ...a group of teenagers have taken to hanging out outside your store... There's some kind of weird narrative here, because I've never heard things like this happening where I live. Not once. > The teenagers end up playing football or skating or something, not intimidating people Why won't they do that in a first place? If they also enjoy destroying bins and drawing gravity they can surely do that in ten minutes or so, doing all the damage and avoiding too much nuisance from your device? I can't imagine teenagers hanging in one place all the time, won't that be extremelly boring?
timonovici 10y ago
> One day people who embraced this kind of thing will be old and helpless, and "teenagers" will held all posts. Just sayin'. By then they will be molded by the system to act the same way, or they will be in a position where the unpleasant design will seem desirable to them, so don't get your hopes too high.
- guard-of-terra 10y ago
  Maybe; but they will also have no reservations against cutting access for older generation because they were taught it's okay to do. So such people better prepare to an extremely unpleasant late life.