Earbuds mean “fuck off”

I’m at Books-A-Million while Maria does the grocery shopping next door at Kroger.

She was here with me for awhile, looking through quilting magazines and choosing an historical novel for some light reading.

When she got up to go, she announced she was going to shop with her iPod and hoped it would keep people from bothering her.

That works some places and some places it doesn’t. That’s why I usually have iPod earbuds in my ears at the bookstores, whether the iPod is playing or not.

Right now, I’m using the iPod to block out the annoying thumping noises being made by a bookstore employee reshelving hardbacks as part of their periodic inventory. It’s not working very well and I hope she gets done quickly and moves to another area before I get really annoyed.

But I digress.

Headphones are a universal symbol for “don’t bother me.” Steven Levy wrote at length in The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness how iPod expanded the cultural impact of the Walkman and public headphone use and etiquette. That is, wearing headphones tells people around you that you are having a personal listening experience and choose not to interact with them or hear whatever mindless chatter they have stored up just for your ears. Implicit in that is the statement that it would be rude and intrusive for them to violate your personal space as long as the headphones are in place.

So, if you see me with my iPod earbuds in place, approach with extreme care.