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Vi, AS W E by JASON VICTOR SERINUS SSEZSEE IT wi don't need me to tell you that listening habits are changing, Although those who predice that the end of our beloved home stereo systems is near! hhave more than alle in common with those who predict che imminent destruction of humankind, there’s no question that listening via computers, iPods, and headphones hus become the order of the day among a large segment of younger Americans ‘Were all familiar with this shift in listening habits. While there's certainly a plus side—mare people chan ever are Tstening to music atall hours of aay and night-there's also a huge public mins. Between cel phones and Whatever is no longer easy to passa slow walker on the street, or even speak to the person next to you; many of them have no idea you're even there, Countless accidents are now attributed to people who, plugged into music, acellular conversation, or both, walkin front of cas or bicycles blissfully unaware. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where Ilive,a man on a cipal light-rail erin recently pulled out a 45-caliber pistol and shot another passenger as he was exiting the train (hiep://sinyuelcom/lz1e9:9). Although security-video footage sevealed that the gun was clearly visible before the shooting— the man had pulled it out of his pocket and waved itabout on ruliple occasions—not a single passenger noticed; everyone ‘was too consumed with their screens and rnusic. ‘With the change in music-istening habits from home systems with loudspeakers to portable devices with earbuds hhas come a shift in music's role in human interaction, When Tand many Steeophile readers were growing up, fiends would regularly get together to share muisc. Tl never forget those post-college afternoons and evenings, beginning in the summer of 1967, when we satin a circle on thriftstore furniture, passed a joint or pipe, and discovered, forthe First time, See Peppers Lonely Hearts Cheb Band, Magical Mystery Tour, and Their Satanic Majesties Request. Though ies hard to separate the collective high of musical discovery from the collective high of getting high, there was no question that the catalyst for our camaraderie was music For audiophiles of all ages—including those who attend shows and audiophile-sociery get-togethers, as well a those who love to hang with music-loving friends—this sense of collective ritual remains. With it comes a feeling of belonging that puts in perspective the individual egos that daly rin amok on audio forums in file attempts to legislate personal realty ‘Contrast the time-honored ritual of shared listening with our brave new warld of personal listening. Ie scems almost as if we've taken a step beyond workplaces where people plug away in walled-of cubicles; we've now walled ourselves off in public. Our penchant for connectivity has lof us strangely disconnected from our surroundings, and 155 ENN Teh pote Tall Lop The Dah ofthe Home Sy yen” ced by Spin Maps erustersphcomconens rearing Ualineeeenen stertonile com « February 2014 “tis ssue: Are people becoming isolated ‘by thelr love for music? As We Listen, So We Are from each other, ‘The ramifications ofthis switch in listening habits ‘extend well beyond the realin of music. In the 1960s, when we were listening to psychedelic rock and expanding ‘our consciousness on multiple levels, one of the spiritual teacher ofthat age as Ran Das, he published hi seminal book, Be Here Now (Lama Foundation, San Cristobal, NM) in 1971. The idea was-by means of meditation, personal growth and awareness, and other techniques-to transcend the chatter and fear of the mind so that we could be totally conscious in the present moment, without distraction. By contrast, today’s mantra has morphed from “Be here now” to “Be somewhere else now.” Rather than dropping ‘out, we search for the best noise-canceling headphones that will allow us to tune out everything around us as we plow through the present Instead of sharing rnc va eollecive listening as we pass around an illegal joint, we listen rivately, share the experience via texting, and pass around legally obtamed fies. : Tean't be the only audiophile who finds himself disturbed by the replacement of collective ritual with private absorption. Not only have we become so oblivious of one another that we literally, physically erash into each other, we also clash with each other on social and political levels ‘While there's always danger in drawing parallels between liening habits and polical marocosms, especialy in the space of a single page, I don’t think it mere coincidence that ‘our shift from public to private listening, and from collective ‘exploration to private absorption, comes at a time when the Aheromy beeweenwhac i bes for the collective good and the desire for personal gain threatens our very existence. So many people are caught up in their own private realities that they fail to see what lies ahead. This is more than a case of not seeing the forest for the trees; people are now so blind-sighted. that they're obliterating tees and forests, to right and left. ‘As someone who heartily embraces and reviews ‘computer audio, and who sometimes enjoys music through a wonderful pair of Audeze headphones, I'm hardly a Luddite. Yee I can’t help feeling that, to the extent that we abandon collective rituals of listening to music, we sacrifice the sense of connection that binds us together in a social and spiritual whole, While I have no simple solutions {© our society's increasing sonic isolation, other than the heartening embrace of vinyl that Michael Fremer is helping, to document at wewwanalogplanet.com and in his “Analog Corner” columa for tat again: Tite You to spead a day with cars unplugged. As you do, please join me and ‘Stereophile in affirming the sense of connection that comes with gathering round the home stereo and sharing in the transcendent mysteries of musical exploration. Jason Victor Serius (STletters@sorcom) isan audio and misc ert, as well asthe whiting voice of Charlie Brown’ fiend, Woodswck