Joe Lavin

The Revolution and Safety (or lack thereof):
Nick Mira, 25, of Boston admitted to The Boston Globe that while listening to his iPod he recently stepped into a crosswalk without looking for traffic. He says he would have never done that without his iPod. I'm sure he's not alone. There are probably many iPod users who will eventually die in traffic, but at least they'll be listening to some good tunes during their final moments on earth.

Mira also said that he listens to his iPod while running and often doesn't notice changes in the weather. "You don't feel like it's raining so much because you can't hear the rain," he said. Maybe I just don't have a very good iPod, but I don't think I have ever liked a song so much that I didn't notice the rain. Hey, Nick, better be careful. If the cars don't get you first, surely the lightning will.

The Revolution and Hearing (or lack thereof):
In the least surprising news story of the year, researchers have announced that increased use of headphones causes an increase in hearing loss. In fact, it turns out that today's noise canceling headphones are so exceptional that after several years they'll cancel out background noise even when you're not wearing them. Sadly, that means that one day Nick will never be able to tell whether it's raining.

The Revolution and Bird-Watching:
Yes, even the quaint pastime of bird-watching will soon be changing. A company called MightyPods has started selling iPods fully loaded with hundreds of recorded birdcalls. Enjoy it while you can though. It's only a matter of time before MightyPods gets sued by all the birds for copyright infringement. At any rate, I'm glad somebody's listening to birdcalls, because, due to all our iPods, the rest of us haven't heard one in months.

The Revolution and Isolation:
Gervase de Wilde worried in The Daily Telegraph that we are becoming increasingly isolated in our musical tastes. These new ways of listening to music "suggest that music is a solitary experience, comprised solely of plugging into your own greatest hits.... This vision of music is entirely self-centered. Where is the possibility of connecting with other people?" she asks. She calls it the debut of "Radio Me," which, no offense, is a lot better than Radio You.

The Revolution and Summer:
Meanwhile, Gary Silverman frets in The Financial Times that the iPod has also changed the way we experience summer. He realized while at the beach that we may have seen the death of the Summer Song. No longer will we be united by listening to one hit song at the beach. That's because no longer are people playing boom boxes at the beach. They're using their iPods instead.

Things must be going pretty damn well for Silverman, if his life is such that the only thing he can worry about is the lack of boom boxes at the beach, but he's right that we may no longer have any summer anthems. On the plus side, my parents will at least be happy that finally somebody turned down all that racket.

The Revolution and Sex
As an incentive for first year students at the University of Toronto to participate in a sex education program, The Toronto Star reports that public health officials from Peel, Ontario offered free iPod Minis to the winners of its sex education game Sexual Pursuit. This marks the first time ever that any game called Sexual Pursuit involved an incentive other than sex.

The Revolution and the Loss of Self
According to Markus Giesler, a teacher at York University, the iPod has created the "first real cyborg marketing experience." "The iPod is an extension of self," he tells The Buffalo News. In the same article, Zach Woodill, a senior at Canisius College agrees. "College is about finding yourself; so is the iPod," he says. "It's not just another piece of technology; it's part of your personality."

That's weird. Mine just seems to be a little box that plays music. I guess I shouldn't have been so cheap when I bought it. Just think. If I had gone and splurged for an iPod Cyborg that could merge with my personality, Steve Jobs and Apple could be controlling my brain right now. I guess they'll just have to settle for controlling the opinions of most major media outlets instead.