Headphones signal connection to the media matrix more than they deliver sound
Evidence
I challenged one student about why he always wore headphones in class. He replied that it didnāt matter, because he wasnāt actually playing any music. In another lesson, he was playing music at very low volume through the headphones, without wearing them. When I asked him to switch it off, he replied that even he couldnāt hear it. Why wear the headphones without playing music or play music without wearing the headphones? Because the presence of the phones on the ears or the knowledge that the music is playing (even if he couldnāt hear it) was a reassurance that the matrix was still there, within reach. Besides, in a classic example of interpassivity, if the music was still playing, even if he couldnāt hear it, then the player could still enjoy it on his behalf. ā Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism, 52
Categorization
- FICTION: This anecdote of a student wearing silent headphones to feel connected is a precise emblem of sonic alienation ā usable in the readerās worldbuilding about intentional silence and sound as social signal, echoing how silence or its symbols function as attachment markers.
- SHARE: Send to anyone who researches sound studies or media presence: students wearing headphones with no sound to reassure themselves āthe matrix was still thereā is a compact ethnographic datum about ambient connectivity.
- XREF: connects to: Media devices now function as talismans of connectivity rather than instruments of listening ā Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There Noā¦, 52
Related
- Media devices now function as talismans of connectivity rather than instruments of listening (similarity 0.91)
- Headphones became the primary device through which entertainment is consumed (similarity 0.80)
- Headphones originated as noise isolation for radio operators (similarity 0.79)
- Headphone listening reveals sounds ordinarily outside awareness (similarity 0.78)
- Modern headphones can prevent rather than cause hearing loss (similarity 0.78)