6 ms·
I'd much rather be surrounded by people wearing earbuds than have people watching tiktoks through their phone speakers on the subway
by MBlume 4mo ago
I'd much rather be surrounded by people wearing earbuds than have people watching tiktoks through their phone speakers on the subway
- pb7 4mo agoCoincidentally, the latter increases the number of the former. Most people are going to avoid confrontation and instead opt for their personal noise cancelation.
- mciancia 4mo ago> Most people are going to avoid confrontation Yeah buying airpods seems like better idea than being stabbed/beaten up
- nozzlegear 4mo agoThat just sounds like another version of what the author is talking about: using [device] to avoid human interaction.
- walrus01 4mo agoIn a really big and busy city it's emotionally exhausting and not reasonable to have an interaction with everyone near you. The only way a lot of people can tolerate being packed into busy public transit systems on a daily basis is to intentionally ignore each other to a certain degree. It's essentially the same unspoken etiquette rule as what you're socially expected to do if riding a crowded elevator. Go commute by NYC subway 10 times a week, M-F especially during peak tourist season and you'll understand. I intentionally behave completely different if I'm in a small town of 3000 people or walking down the street, shopping, riding transit in a large city.
- tcoff91 4mo ago100 years ago they sold pocket sized books so people in cities could ignore each other by reading books.
- walrus01 4mo agoAlso there's plenty of old timey black and white photos of people riding the LIRR or similar where everyone is holding and reading a newspaper.
- jagged-chisel 4mo agoAh, it’s reading that’s the problem. Plato/Socrates/Thamus was onto something!
- HDBaseT 4mo agoand people still try and suggest public transport is great, when its a hellhole..
- walrus01 4mo agoIt really depends, I would much rather travel by NYC subway or Vancouver SkyTrain or Seattle light rail if my origin and destination are within walking distance. It's the least horrible option in many cases. Good luck to anyone's stress level and pocketbook trying to commute by car in much of NYC and pay $550 a month for parking.
- oogali 4mo ago$550 is a steal.
- walrus01 4mo agoRight, I could have written that much more pessimistically with 850/mo parking, insurance, congestion charges 5 days a week x 2, cost of car insurance, maintenance, fuel, cost of the car itself, etc.
- projektfu 4mo agoThe insurance in NYC is at least twice the rest of the country and then there is the likelihood your car will be hit or stolen while you're away, meaning at the very least it will be in the shop for a while. People I know who had cars in Manhattan or Brooklyn still took the train most of the time, leaving the car in the garage.
- throwaway2037 4mo agoI have a hot take about commuting by car from the suburbs into midtown Manhattan (the densest part). The trick is time of day. If you are a gov't bond trader, it it is pretty normal to get to the office around 6AM. You can easily beat morning traffic arriving that early. Also, your day ends very early, so the return commute is also easy.
- huggert6 4mo ago[flagged]
- chasd00 4mo agoThe only interaction you’re missing in ops post is politely asking them to turn it down and being told very aggressively to “shut the fuck up!”.
- j-bos 4mo agoOr getting killed for it.
- bananamogul 4mo agohttps://youtu.be/D1GyHQiuneU https://youtu.be/D1GyHQiuneU
- bko 4mo agoI don't think that's it. I think highly anti-social behavior is often deliberate, looking for someone to challenge you. An exertion of power. That's why pretty much everyone learns to ignore the behavior and not say anything.
- bananamogul 4mo agoI remember in the 70s and 80s people on buses and subways reading magazines and newspapers. The idea that electronic devices have ushered in some age where humans want to interact with each other less is a myth I think.
- garrickvanburen 4mo agoThere seems to be an overall, “I’m just now aware of this phenomenon, technology must be to blame” when the phenomenon has stayed constant and the tech has shifted under it. #moraloutrage
- nozzlegear 4mo agoDid nobody read TFA? > Americans are speaking less and less to one another. The number of spoken words uttered by the average person fell by 28% between 2005 and 2019.
- wolvoleo 4mo agoDoesn't mean they communicate less. A lot of phone conversations have pivoted to text/whatsapp.
- watwut 4mo agoThe other related phenomenon is "I dont believe culture and society can change, so I pick something I am vaguely aware of existing in the past. The people who are old enough to be there know the comparison makes no sense, but it allow me to stop the discussion about change". Like, there was some reading of newspapers and magazines, but not that much. They were large, you know. Most people stared silently out of the window. Multiple people reading newspapers on the bus would be rare occurrence. And it was NOT noisy unlike tiktok video.
- Hoodedcrow 4mo agoAlso "Father hiding behind his newspaper at the dinner table" has been a meme since forever.
- cma 4mo agoNewspapers have probably been used for this on subways for this as long as subways have been around. Walkmen in the 80s.
- nozzlegear 4mo agoTake me back to a simpler time in America when newspapers were used for just getting the news, and not for premodern TikTok stand-ins.
- saghm 4mo agoSure, in the same way that taking a leak in a toilet and taking a leak on the sidewalk are both ways of avoiding wetting your pants
- nozzlegear 4mo agoIf you can't or won't illustrate why the two are similar, avoid making the analogy. It just invites a fork in the conversation where people are going to argue "actually it's like a homeless guy taking a shit in my glove box," and other spurious diversions.
- saghm 4mo agoThe point is that just because two things are used to avoid a third thing doesn't mean they're comparable when one of them is much less disruptive to those around you. There are people who don't think being forced into interactions because there didn't happen to be a way to decline without being considered rude is a better state that allowing people to opt out. Framing it as "both are examples of the same problem" is based on the (in my opinion flawed) premise that it's an objective problem in the first place rather than the previous social norm that was tilted towards extroverts now having more accomodations for those who aren't as extroverted.
- MBlume 4mo agoAs is driving alone in a car
- misiti3780 4mo agothose are just people with bad manners.
- TiredOfLife 4mo agoThere is an even worse thing. Using speakerphone while on street, while holding the phone near ear anyway.