Plugged In

I have never been the type of person to walk around with ear buds buried in my ears, barely aware of the noises of the world that surround me. I have subscribed to the belief that the need for constant stimulation is not a sign of boredom but fear – the fear of being left alone with ones thoughts and where their mind might go if they allow it to wander. Yet, following the rediscovery of my iPod nano (a first generation vintage classic which was never lost, rather stored in a really, really safe place) I have found myself reaching into my pocket nearly every time I leave a building, unwrapping my earbuds from around it and hitting play as I make my way to my next destination.

A year ago, I barely ever had an iPod on me and since my phone has only enough memory for a maximum of two apps and a few texts at a time, I have never used my phone to listen to music. Yet, as I began to drive to between Ann Arbor and Chicago on a biweekly basis this past summer, I tired of the Top 40 hits that were played over and over and over again on the radio. So, switched to hooking up my iPod to my car’s stereo allowing me the ability to listen to something other than “Can’t Feel My Face” and “Cheerleader” for four hours straight.

I fell in love with listening to the free Freakonomics Podcasts and feeling productive during those hours with my hands on the wheel. When school started, I figured why not continue using that typically unproductive transportation time to learn something. I found myself first using my iPod only with my car’s stereo as I drove to school, then on my ten minute walks from the Orange lot to the EECS building, and now I find that it has become a habit, that more often than not I am walking with earbuds unwrapped, inserted and allowing my podcasts and music to flow from my iPod to my brain.

While it has been a more productive use of transportation time, I must wonder what I am giving up. Those moments of quite respite between classes and homework that allow my brain to recharge – what effect has losing those had on me these past few weeks? I don’t have an exact answer to that question, but I feel that this constant state of being “plugged-in” has to negatively effect me in some manner – that the constant bombardment of my brain with music or words with no time to recharge hinders my creativity and my ability to function at a high level academically and musically. Perhaps it doesn’t, and I’ve bought into too many studies that have made wild and inappropriate conjectures from there result, but just in case I think now is a good time to unplug and store my iPod in another super safe place.