I’m blowing the whistle. Despite what you may have read, the real danger of the iPod is not hearing loss, social isolation, or even aural hallucinations. The real danger is that 60G of rock may just be too much rock for one person to handle.
I saw the danger manifested myself yesterday. As I left my office I noticed a guy swinging his head violently from side to side while standing on the sidewalk. At first I thought either the gnats that were all over the downtown had driven him to distraction, or he was a crazy homeless guy. Then I got a look at him. He had that greasy front-man-for-Jet look which could be why I thought he was homeless. But he had slick shades, nice clothes, a Fred Perry satchel, and a slick bike. Clearly not homeless.
He switched up his moves for a second, and that was when I noticed the white cords dangling from his ears. And I got it. He was dancing. To his iPod. Dancing hard and very publicly. He had been overcome by the rock.
After the track had ended — or so I figured — he hopped onto his bike and cycled off. He did, however, throw up a few rock hands as he pedaled into the distance.
I’m just thankful he was able to quickly pull over when the need to rock became overwhelming.