Second hand noise

So this guy is sitting next to me on the train… he starts doing his email on his iPhone so every time he sends one it goes “Swoosh!”. I’m thinking “OK, a couple of emails and he’s done.” Nope. Now it’s time for solitaire. Dink. Dink. Doink. Dink. “Hey dude, you can put that Jack on the Queen…and either turn your effing volume off or put in some earphones!” No, I didn’t verbalize it.

Why is it that people think it’s fine to engage in their own form of entertainment and share the sound with the rest of us?  For decades, the Surgeon General told people smoking could kill them. It wasn’t until the scientists showed that second-hand smoke could kill the other guy that smoking bans popped up all over the country! [Which of course pushed those smokers out to the street where sidewalk pedestrians like me get to partake in their smoke…but we saved the other bar patrons from it!]

I’m going to start a movement. Going to find some scientists who will prove his stupid game sounds will cause me cancer or deafness or a mental breakdown. That’ll do it!

By the way, I think while I was tapping this out, he glanced over here, saw the title, and turned off his sound. What’s the word for visual eavesdropping?

Noise pollution

I enjoy peace and quiet. Remember when the biggest noise annoyances we had were airplanes overhead and people talking during the movie? Now we are bombarded everywhere we go with people’s phone conversations, phone notification tones, game app “music”, and the tinny sound of loud music leaking from earphones of people who can’t afford good ones.

What is it that makes people think this is okay? What happened to thinking about others? Something has changed, caused by this omnipresent digital tether we now all have in front of our face more often than not.  Ironic, I know, that my recent living has been highly impacted by the existence of these devices. And many of you who know me know I am as addicted to the device as the rest of them. But can’t we just keep it a little more quiet please? Where’s the crying baby when you need one?