# Are headphones extinct, or is it courtesy? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 27, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734 "2014-11-27T01:43:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/1 "2014-11-27T01:43:17Z")
Seems like just about everywhere I go, people are watching/listening to videos or music on phones or laptops, with the volume cranked up so that everyone within at least 20 feet has to listen to it too. Aside from the IMO utter rudeness of forcing your entertainment choices on everyone with the misfortune to be near you, the sound quality in these situations (especially on phones) is utterly crappy. Just about no one seems to use headphones/earphones. What is the [expletive] deal with this??? ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/2 "2014-11-27T02:11:46Z")
I got screamed at on my first day of work once because in the TRAINING ROOM some douche was doing a speakerphone personal conversation and I asked nicely for him to quiet down. It was really awful because since I was new, I didn’t know if this was acceptable work culture to that place, who to talk to because I felt threatened and scared. So I couldn’t stand this behavior before the incident and now I hate it even more. I know ear buds can be uncomfortable, but they can be inexpensive and easy to obtain to try out ones that feel ok. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/3 "2014-11-27T03:07:55Z")
I go by train to work and back every day, around about an hour all up, and have for getting towards 10 years. Roughly half the people on the train are listening to music, playing a video game or watching a video. Not once have I ever seen anyone doing that without earbuds or headphones. So where are you and in what situation is this happening to you? ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/4 "2014-11-27T03:14:30Z")
Let’s see, on public transit, in the breakroom at work, in shared areas on campus, in just about any public place… ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/5 "2014-11-27T03:26:39Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Let’s see, on public transit, in the breakroom at work, in shared areas on campus, in just about any public place… I’ve seen it on occasion in places like the break room or hallway at work. Not on public transit during commute or other crowded areas. But it’s always been to share with someone else, not for their own use. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/6 "2014-11-27T03:27:29Z")
Posted by me, on facebook, on the 16th of this month: > [@](#): > > So many sad, sad people on the El, who have smartphones with which to listen to music, > yet clearly can’t afford the free headphones that come with them. For me, it’s on the train during non-rush hour times. Not so much on buses, because the drivers don’t put up with it. Since there’s no driver on each train car, people get away with it. The rest of us don’t get paid enough to find out whether the non-headset person is crazy. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/7 "2014-11-27T04:03:53Z")
Ugh! Occasionally I find myself in a public place with such a person. Last time was a guy sitting at a table in a fast food restaurant having a chat with his bud on speaker phone. My immediate thought of such a person: Were you raised by wolves? My daughter listens to loud music on her laptop or even with the speaker in her iPhone in a pinch. I can hear the tinny crappy speaker across the house and will shout “Is that a tinny speaker I hear?” until she either puts in some headphones or uses real speakers. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/8 "2014-11-28T15:34:53Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > Posted by me, on facebook, on the 16th of this month:For me, it’s on the train during non-rush hour times. **Not so much on buses, because the drivers don’t put up with it.** Since there’s no driver on each train car, people get away with it. The rest of us don’t get paid enough to find out whether the non-headset person is crazy. The bus drivers here DO allow it. When I complained to a bus driver once, his answer was, “Sit somewhere else.” Idiots on the bus/subway used to play music without headphones all the time around here. Rush hour, late at night, Sunday morning… :mad: the fad seems to have died off just a little (hope I’m not jinxing it,) though many people still listen to music so loud with their headphones on that you can hear the obnoxious “tick, tick, tick” of the music. Which is one of the main reasons why I nearly always wear earplugs on public transit. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/9 "2014-11-28T17:03:12Z")
I am pretty sure it’s illegal to listen to music without headphones on the DC Metro. It’s on the same sign in the cars as the warnings not to eat/drink, smoke, litter, etc. I know you can be cited for those things, so I assume you can also be cited for loud music. Not that I’ve ever seen it happen, but it’s theoretically possible. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/10 "2014-11-28T21:29:01Z")
Or they could just put the device down for 5 minutes and experience real life. Maybe even talk to a _real person!_ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/11 "2014-11-28T21:35:31Z")
Now that’s just crazy talk. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/12 "2014-11-28T21:38:02Z")
Clearly, anyone who thinks this is some new madness, unprecedented in the history of mankind, is either too young or too old to remember the age of the boom box. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/13 "2014-11-28T21:41:11Z")
I spend every airport layover with earbuds jammed into my ears to drown out the 1984-style telescreens blasting in every gate area. That can die, too! ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/14 "2014-11-28T23:47:04Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Or they could just put the device down for 5 minutes and experience real life. Maybe even talk to a _real person!_ No. Unless I already know you and am traveling with you, don’t fekkin talk to me. Fekkin nutjobs on the CTA are the last people I want to have a conversation with. And no, I don’t care to take that 50/50 chance you might not be a nutter. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/15 "2014-11-29T00:30:08Z")
Stop hanging out in the ghetto. Problem solved. Also, there seems to be some type of weird server problem with this thread. The time stamp says it is from today but the subject matter suggests it was originally posted in 1981. I have never witnessed the problem in question but, then again, I don’t hang out in ghettos or ride public transportation. If such annoyances really bother you, I think you can understand why people move to exclusive suburbs or exurbs where you just don’t have to even know such problems exist elsewhere anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/16 "2014-11-29T00:36:36Z")
Must be nice to be wealthy, done with schooling, and equipped with servants to run one’s errands so that mixing with the proles can be avoided. Those of us living in the REAL world, OTOH… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/17 "2014-11-29T00:47:33Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Clearly, anyone who thinks this is some new madness, unprecedented in the history of mankind, is either too young or too old to remember the age of the boom box. It’s not new, no, but it did seem to die out for a while with the walkman and other portable devices. Prior to the phone craze, most portable music players didn’t even have speakers. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/18 "2014-11-29T00:49:53Z")
I do wonder what city you live in, **Seanette** , because when I lived in LA I never experienced this and here in Austin I don’t either. I don’t subscribe wholeheartedly to **Shagnasty’s** point of view regarding ghettos but it does seem sort of 1981, or as **Smapti** said, the age of boomboxes. Everyone I see in public or in private is using headphones to listen to their devices, pretty much without exception. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/19 "2014-11-29T01:48:10Z")
Yeah, for another data point here in the Seattle area I’ve never seen this. Half the people on my commute are listening to something and everyone uses headsets. And I second the opinion that starting conversations on the bus or train is inappropriate. For most people this is their own personal time to catch up with a book or their tunes. When someone talks to you on the bus they’re almost always a crazy person, because all normal people know this transit rule. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734/20 "2014-11-29T02:00:46Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Stop hanging out in the ghetto. Problem solved. Also, there seems to be some type of weird server problem with this thread. The time stamp says it is from today but the subject matter suggests it was originally posted in 1981. I have never witnessed the problem in question but, then again, I don’t hang out in ghettos or ride public transportation. If such annoyances really bother you, I think you can understand why people move to exclusive suburbs or exurbs where you just don’t have to even know such problems exist elsewhere anymore. You do realize the trains and buses are traveling significant distances? They do stuff like go through nice neighborhoods where they pick up people who maybe just don’t want to put up with traffic, \*and \*they go through neighborhoods where some people can’t afford cars. Sorry you’re such a bumpkin you can’t comprehend large transportation systems. I posit that the people who haven’t seen this are also traveling during rush hours and that’s pretty much it. I don’t see it happen during these times when it’s crowded enough for people to be standing. It happens later in the evenings or mid-day when the cars are less than half full. That’s just my experience. And **BigT** has it right, there was a period of blessed silence in between the boom boxes and smart phones. The speaker-music stuff started up again maybe 5 years ago and has gotten a little worse since more people have acquired phones that can play music without headphones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-headphones-extinct-or-is-it-courtesy/705734.md?page=2)